Dancing With Themselves
by TheNewMissNoOne
Summary: A story of friendship, breaking, and falling in love. Nothing is ever smooth in the bumpy ride of these two friends.
1. Prologue: Unbelievable

**Title:**Dancing With Themselves

**Summary:** A simple yet meaningful story of friendship's evolvement to love. No one said it would be easy, they just promised it would be worth it.

A young girl on the verge of puberty walked down the streets with tears straining down her cheeks.

Today had not been her day.

The one time that she finally got the guts to talk to this guy she likes, he gets a girlfriend. And what was worse, this guy's girlfriend was her best friend. She not only felt rejected, but also betrayed.

However, this girl was not mean. She was anything but that. She's got a heart of gold and if her best friend and her crush being together makes them happy then she's sort of happy too. After all, everyone has their own partner in life. Hers is just yet for her to meet.

But yet, wishfully thinking, she couldn't help the tiny inkling of hope that things would have gone the other way—a way wherein she and the guy she likes would happily be together for the remains of destiny. She sighed. She just wished it didn't have to feel _this_ bad.

What made her cheer up a bit, though, was seeing other couples happy, and this time was no exception. She rounded a corner and into the local park to see another couple, laughing exceptionally and making lovey-dovey eyes at each other. This was an unusual pair though, she thought. But that only made their aura even more romantic. She couldn't help but smile at the sight of the sixteen year olds in front of her.

The guy was in a wheelchair, his fashion sense was a total no-no (seriously, who wears belts _and_ suspenders in real life?), and he's got widely framed glasses. She wears all black, from her head to her toes and to her hands where black gloves surrounded them. She seemed to be Asian, wearing a black shirt and skirt and black combat boots with fishnet stockings. She has blue streaks on her hair, but she was smiling like there's no tomorrow. And so was he.

She hit him playfully on the head, and he pouted a bit. The Goth girl immediately apologized, he said it didn't really hurt, but the young girl could tell that it did.

She sighed again and smiled. Maybe someday she'd find her own wheelchair guy.

She started walking homeward, unbeknownst to her that the wheelchair guy and the Goth girl were not actually a couple. And that they too were wishful thinking of their own loves.

And unbeknownst to both of them, they sincerely belong to each other.


	2. Ultraphobic

**Chapter One**

Some may call it fate, some might think it's weird, some may call it cliché, others think it's clearly a perchanced misunderstanding—not that any of those people have ever witnessed the situation before.

Sixth graders Tina and Artie never thought they'd ever be what they are at present. There were too many gates and walls hindering them from how they should be.

Tina hasn't had the best childhood. For her first five years of life, she with her parents lived with her extended family. Tina, being the only girl among them children at the time (and both of her cousins being older than her) they would always tease her. Tease her until she'd scowl strongly and cry for mommy. She hated her cousins because they tormented her every moment they can.

That was the reason for her aggressiveness—towards boys, to be more particular. She found all of them as only one type—her cousins.

Her stutter didn't help either. And neither were her clothes—black everyday and her hair had shiny blue streaks on them.

No one in class liked her for that. Guys and girls alike were too scared to approach her. Until in the sixth grade, a new kid arrived in their school. She vaguely recalled their teacher introducing him as "Artie Abrams." But the moment Artie wheeled in the room, Tina burst out laughing at his face. The rest of the class shot him looks of sympathy. Artie wasn't sure which reaction he'd prefer, but smiled shyly and went over to the handicap desk.

By the end of the class, he was absolutely positive that Tina Cohen-Chang has not taken a liking to him, so he tried to steer out of her way as much as possible. But she's not exactly hard to get rid of.

"Hey, Wheels!" She called out to him when Artie accidentally rolled over her foot one day in the hallway, "W-watch it, will 'ya?!"

"Sorry, it was an accident, I swear!" Artie said nervously as he pushed his wide glass up the bridge of his nose.

"N-next time, th-think who y-you're d-dealing with! I'll let you off w-with a warning." She glared daggers at him sharp enough to act as a chainsaw, her hands planted firmly in fists.

But he did it again. Of course it was only another accident. But Tina couldn't seem to comprehend that. This time, she yelped in pain.

"I am going to _kill_ you!" The words went out of her mouth like venom. Artie gulped nervously and mumbled another apology. Half the kids in the hallway expected a fight. And in one quick move, Tina grabbed a hold of Artie's glasses and thrown them down the floor, stepped on them with her huge black boot, her expression a metaphor to a fierce lioness. Artie could only stare down in shock, mouth agape, eyes wide.

"I _hate_ you!" She practically spat on his face before turning around and stomping off.

To the others, it was just a short spur of the moment thing. To Artie, however, it was different. To him, all events stated above went by in slow motion. Those glasses meant the world to him, the last reminder of his favorite uncle, and she had broken it and shown no mercy. All because he rolled on her foot.

He cursed his being paraplegic.

It kind of carried on like that for the rest of the school year. He was never pleased with how it worked out. And seventh grade rolled by and that's when it all changed.

Through her tough exterior, Tina Cohen-Chang has a lot of vulnerabilities. These weak spots she never showed anyone though. Until one day, as she was walking home from school, she came to pass by the people she'd dreaded to see and never thought she'd see again.

Paul and Andy—her two cousins—walked to her with sinister smiles etched on their faces. They weren't far from her school yet.

"Well would you look at that? It's our beloved cousin! Hiyya!" Paul exclaimed, clearly exaggerated.

"Whatsup, Stutterfly? Haven't seen you in a long time!" Andy frizzled her hair with his hands.

"Leave me alone, D-dufusheads."

"Oooh, I'm so scared," Andy said in mock sarcasm. He and Paul shared a high-five. Tina scoffed and tried to veer past them, but they insisted upon her.

"Hey, Tina, hows about we hang out some place? It's a great chance for family togetherness," Paul said, smiling wide. Tina could see right through their plan.

"I said leave me alone." She worked _extra_ hard not to stutter.

Andy grabbed her arms. She tried to get loose. "D-don't t-touch m-me!" She kicked nothing but cement. Andy draped her over his shoulder and walked the other way.

"L-let me g-go!" She kept punching at his back. Andy and Paul only laughed some more.

Tina was now more scared than ever. She knew that they knew what her greatest fear was. Her heart beat frantically and a hand was clamped over her mouth to stop her from screaming.

Less than five minutes later, Tina found herself locked inside the school's old janitor's closet. She was locked because it can only be opened on the outside. And it was fairly small.

And Tina was claustrophobic.

Most of the people had already gone and so as she kept pounding on the door, no one came to her rescue. She was all alone.

She broke down right there and then. It could be hours that she'd be stuck in there, but she kept hoping that someone would just come in and help her. She closed her eyes shut, hoping that it would help convince her that she was not, in fact, in a small room with no means of getting out. She hugged her knees and rocked back and forth, silently humming to herself to try to keep herself calm.

She didn't realize the sobs wrecking in her body. Her whole figure shook with fear and melancholiness as she took note of her surroundings. A few more minutes in this room and she'd feel as if she'd pass out. She could barely breathe. And for the first time since that glorious day of moving into a new house away from her cousins, she felt weak. Powerless. Vulnerable. Helpless.

Desolation was all inside her as she marvelled at what had happened to her. At how she had changed.

Her sobs and whines got louder. Her breathing more frantic. Claustrophobia hitting her in a slow pace. She tried to make the room bigger, she really did. She tried to kick the walls, thinking they'd somehow extend but nothing happened but that it made a lot of noise. And she was instantly relieved when she heard a voice from outside.

"Hello? Is someone in there?" She immediately recognized the voice as Artie's.

"Artie?" She shouted. "Is that you? Get me out of here! Please!" Oh, who was she kidding? After all the things she's done to him, he's never gonna help her!

Artie noticed the extreme desperation in Tina's voice as it suddenly dawned on him that she just called him by his real name. This sparked a little inkling in him which he wasn't sure what.

"Hang on!" He called out and heard Tina's audible sigh of relief.

He was still a bit unsure when he turned his hand on the doorknob and twisted it open, but all feelings of uncertainty washed away from him as soon as he saw Tina huddled in the corner. He'd never seen her more fragile and weak, but she still seemed so fascinating to him.

Tina looked up at his big blue eyes and hugged the life out of him. She continued to cry, nonetheless. And Artie solaced her for a good half hour before she'd finally calmed down. He let her cry on his chest while he held her tight against his body, cooing soothing words every now and then.

Confessions were made, apologies were forgiven, and a new and lasting friendship was formed.

And to say the most predictable and cliché of your expectations, they'd been inseperable ever since.


	3. Undefinable

**_Um, hi, just a little author's note here. Thanks for wasting your time to read this story! I just hope that you would find it interesting enough to continue reading. However, if my writing style is not suited for the plot, I'm working on it. I need your help in criticizing my work so that I could better fulfill the reader's needs so I am kindly asking for your honest opinion on a review. Thank you very much! _**

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**Chapter Two**

"HELLLLP!! HELP! SOMEBODY! HELP!" Artie yelled down the empty hallway as he, once again, found his wheels duct taped by the jocks. _Well, _he thought,_ this is high school. Things could be worse._

Upon hearing his voice, Tina turned sharply in his direction and ran to help him. No words were said as she peeled off the duct tape from his wheels. Tina, panting a bit after running fast to get to him, gave him a questioning look.

Artie knew what she wanted to say just by looking in her eyes.

"I'm okay, really I am. Don't worry." He said.

"Who d-did this to you?"

"Jocks, as usual." He sighed and looked at the floor with downcast eyes.

"Who were they? Were they the same g-guys who taped you to the flagpole the other day?"

Artie blushed at the memory. "Yeah."

Tina had a fierce look on her face. "When I see those guys I'm gonna rip their—"

"Tina, calm down!" He put his hand on Tina's arm. Tina immediately relaxed at his touch and she smiled, but as soon as she realized what she'd done, she blushed. Thankfully, Artie didn't seem to notice.

"Thanks," he said.

"No p-prob,"

"But we really should get to class. We are _so_ late."

"Um, Artie?"

"Yeah?"

She looked into his big blue eyes. "Take c-care of yourself."

"Yeah, you too."

And they both headed their separate ways.

They might be the dynamic duo now, but sometimes the past just gets caught up with them.

"Hey, Artie, c-come on, smile for the camera!" Tina chimed at him as she held a small video camera and pointed it at his face. Artie, not really liking being interrupted from reading his _Lord of the Rings_ book, glanced up and frowned.

"Tina, if you don't shut that thing off, I'm gonna throw that."

She, quite surprised at his reaction, gasped and said "Oh, so first you b-break my watch, and now you're targetting on my c-camera?! Gimme a break, Artie!" but turns off the camera and setting it aside, nonetheless.

Artie faces her (or, at least in his case, twists his torso uncomfortably to her, as they were both sitting on the couch) and prepares to advance, hands in front of him, holding the index and middle fingers up with a serious look on his face. Tina already knew what he meant to do and started scooting backward.

"Oh no, Artie! No! No—_aaaaaaahh!!!_" She screamed as he tickled her furiously, poking her stomach and waist. "Stop!" She begged, laughing through the torture. Artie smiled and pulled back his hands. Once Tina settled back on the sofa, Artie put his hand behind her neck, which he was sure was her most vulnerable spot. Tina screamed and crumbled to the floor, strangling to get Artie's wrist off of her neck.

"S-s-stop! P-please! I'm s-sorry!" Artie folded his arms across his chest and continued to read his book.

They both didn't like it when it ends up that way, though.

Tina scooted closer to him, smiling apologetically, then ruffles his neatly combed hair. He hates it when people do that. "Hey!" he said, and ruffles Tina's hair as revenge.

They both carried on like that for a few minutes, before Artie started bumping his forehead to Tina's own. They didn't exactly know what they're doing, but they both fought for whatever reason there is to be fighting about. There were some aggressive sounds made until Artie brought his head back, Tina's head raised in confusion, then he shouted just for entertainment purposes:

"The force is with me!"

And bumped his forehead to Tina's with great force.

Tina yelped in pain and grasped her forehead.

"ARTIE!!! _Ouuuuuuuuuuchhh…_"

Artie, unsure of how to react but chose to feel guilty, leaned closer to her and checked for a bump which he may have caused. He cursed internally as his fingers made contact with an uneven spot on her head.

"I'll go get some ice," he hastily said. This is his house after all, and Tina was his guest. And he had to be nice to his guests.

Once he came back with ice, Tina rubbed it on her forehead and groaned.

"Artie?"

"Hm?"

"I hate you."

"I know."

Tina smiled. She's only ever said that to him on more than often times.

Artie sighed in defeat. "Fine. I'm sorry I almost caused you a head concussion."

"_Aaand?_"

"I'm sorry for breaking your watch and threatened to break your camera."

"That's what I t-thought you said." She smiled smugly and grabbed the remote to watch some TV.

What a regular weekend for Artie and Tina.

One day, at Glee practice, they started bickering again. Mr Schuester was talking to Coach Sylvester in the hallway—Mike, Matt, Brittany, Santana, and Puck all listening to them. Rachel, of course being Rachel, had pulled Finn into a corner to start talking about a duet they were gonna do. Quinn, Mercedes, and Kurt listened to Artie and Tina's _very_ insensible argument, finding it all too funny all the same.

"Artie, for the last t-time, Atheism is NOT a religion!"

"Yes it is, Tina!"

"No, it's a religion wherein you d-don't have a religion,"

"So it's still a religion!"

"B-but it's a religion where you don't have one!"

"Which _makes_ it a religion," his voice drawls out in that word.

"Artie, you're not making sense!"

"Well neither are you!"

"_Oh, just go ahead and make out already!!!"_ Kurt's voice echoed through the choir room, causing everyone's heads to turn to the duo.

Tina thought her face was red from all the blushing, until she saw Artie turning the shade of a tomato. Because seriously, the thought of the two of them making out would just be _very_ wrong.

And also, because in all the years of them practically being attached to each other's hip (no pun intended for the wheelchair kid, of course), it was the first time they've actually been teased as a couple. Tina felt a stange surge of pride.

Kurt rolled his eyes at the both of them. Artie and Tina couldn't meet their eyes. Quinn and Mercedes had knowing smiles on their faces that made them feel even more uncomfortable than they already are, if that was even possible.

Kurt continued, unashamed. "Well it_ is_ really obvious that you guys really like each other—"

"_We do NOT!"_ They said aloud at the same time.

"—and, as much as I love listening to your idiotic (yet, quite amusing) fights, you really should reserve the flirtatious overdrive for when you're in private." A few of the Glee kids snickered.

If Artie and Tina thought their faces were beet red before, they'd have loved to see the color on their faces now. Finally, they were able to meet each other's eyes and he shot her a gentle smile that made her heart hyperventilate and the butterflies to surge in her stomach.

"They're doing it again! Somebody shield me from those goo-goo eyes! Aaaah!!!" Kurt turns his back on them.

Luckily, more awkward moments were diminished (or perhaps, postponed?) when Mr Schue came back and announced that they can all go home. Artie and Tina stayed behind as always to make sure that Artie wouldn't run over his wheels on anyone's foot and him and Tina would go home together. And since her parents were very rarely in their house (such workaholic people that when they do come home, they'd just sleep then leave early in the morning for work again) she hadn't grown accustomed to them and had dinners every night at the Abrams's household. They were extremely nice to her and made her feel as if she really were a part of their family.

That night, as Tina and Artie were alone at his house, they watched a movie. Neither of them knew what movie it was because of the wide array of DVD's there are at his house and one day, when she came over, her clumsiness got the better of her and she tripped on her own feet, knocking down the entire DVD collection. CD's were brought out of their cases and they were too lazy to put them back in their right places so they put them in cases randomly and ever since then, they'd just pull out a random case with a random CD inside without checking what the movie was and just watch it.

This night, they were watching some Sci-Fi thriller film. Now normally, this would have cheered Artie up. But today, he just couldn't stop thinking about what happened earlier in Glee practice. He couldn't fathom his specific reaction to it, but he was 99 percent sure it was…_satisfaction_? Satisfaction of finally being thought of as a couple with Tina? Why would he feel satisfied with _that_? Seriously! Because even though he is still a hormonal teenage boy despite the wheelchair, that was an all time low even for him.

Tina, however, was already sure. She was sure what she felt at that event was delight.

Delight? How so?

She was delighted at the fact that she and Artie were finally beginning to be recognized as a couple. She liked the feeling of being teased to him. Normally, she'd be repulsed by this idea because she clearly was not much of a girly-girl, but this was_ Artie_, for Pete's sake! And who could resist such a sweet and charming dork like _him_?

And so she was sure. Quite sure ever since the day he opened the door to that claustrophobic janitor's closet, when he'd held her close to his body as he consoled her back to health and optimism, trying really hard to keep her from passing out, that she just _knew_ she'd fallen for him.

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**_I really hope someone reviews this. Thanks!_**


	4. Inevitable

_Ok, so I haven't updated in a while cause of some busy stuff and an annoying case of writer's block, but here's the latest update. I hope you won't be upset! I really do try to do my best. Please forgive me if I just ruin the whole story!_

_DISCLAIMER: Sorry, no matter how much I want Artie Abrams, I do not own him. I do not own all the other characters and the whole of GLEE for that manner so...SUCK IT UP!!! :D_

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Chapter Three**

"8 slots." Tina muttered.

"Sunflower." Artie muttered back, looking very thoughtful, scratching his chin.

"Cherry bomb." Tina answered, excitement clear in her voice.

"Squash."

"Tall nut."

"Snow pea."

"Melon-pult."

"Potato mine."

"Pea-shooter," Tina smiled.

"Nuh-uh! Repeater would be much better!" Artie retorted strongly.

"But that c-costs TWICE as much as a pea-shooter!"

"And it's damage is also TWICE as much!"

Tina pouted.

"Trust me on this, Tee," he said, she unable to deny his longing blue eyes.

"Fine." She reluctantly obliged and clicked the Repeater.

"Ready?" He challenged.

"Begin onslaught," the devilish smile back on her face.

And the war between plants versus zombies began.

Artie and Tina, to say the least, were undeniably hooked into this weird yet addicting computer game. They watched as the zombies limped slowly in the yard, then losing its arm, then its head, then falling altogether. Artie and Tina were buzzing with laughter and pretty soon, they were humming to the game's crazy yet catchy tune.

Tina collected the sun needed while Artie laid back on his chair and relaxed and waited for the final wave, where two gargantaurs **(really huge zombies carrying a post with baby zombies on their backs)** began to burst in and busted the plants Tina worked so hard to earn. She began to avenge them by planting a cherry bomb on a pot, doing it again, then the gargantaurs were gone. Artie gave her a well-earned high five as the round went in for a close. They, once again, began to laugh heartily.

"Ready for the n-next round?" She asked, her eyebrows raised.

"Who wouldn't?" He answered, chuckling some more.

"That game _again_?!!" Another voice was heard and both their heads snapped up. Tina was well surprised.

"K-kurt?! M-mercedes?! Haven't you ever heard of _knocking_?!!" Tina stood up from the computer chair and went by to greet them.

"Sorry, girl, but the door was wide open, so we took it as an invitation." Kurt said confidently.

"Oops, my bad." Artie muttered, admitting that he was too excited to bother closing the door when he came in.

"So w-what're you guys exactly doing here?" Tina quizzed.

"We came by to wish you a happy birthday!" Mercedes said, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

"Mall's closed." Kurt said, glancing at his well-manicured nails.

"Naw, really?!" Artie oh-so-sarcastically said too.

"Yes. Apparently, some kind of brutal robbery was commenced last night, and it's still under investigation," Kurt continued, ignoring Artie's failed attempt at humor (Tina laughed anyway).

"So you decided to come to m-m-my house? For what, c-closet raiding? Guys, for the last time, I love what I wear!"

"Puh-lease, hun, nobody really likes your collection of…heat absorbent clothes…" Kurt said.

"I do," Artie muttered sheepishly, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose.

Awkward silence.

"Anyways," Mercedes said, breaking it, "We're bored. We tend to do random things when we're bored."

"Welcome to the club," Artie and Tina said at the same time.

"Have I ever mentioned how creepy it is that you guys always seem to say and do the same things at the same time?" said Kurt.

Artie and Tina both shrugged.

"So…" Mercedes said, "We came to hang out! Now can we do something fun?"

Artie cut in, "But we were just—"

"Oh, puh-lease, I've got better things to do than bust hardly realistic green-skinned—"

"—Grey-skinned" Artie and Tina corrected him.

"—Grey-skinned zombies using unrealistic plants and lawn furniture." Kurt finished.

Artie and Tina both blushed.

"See what I'm talking about? Now what can we do?"

"I dunno, what do you guys wanna d-do?" Tina said.

"Hmm…" thought Kurt, "We could…go to the park."

"Yeah," Tina said, "That sounds…"

"Recreational?" Artie said, finishing her sentence for her.

"Yeah, whatever th-that meant." She smiled.

"Ok, can we just go?" Mercedes cut in.

Wordlessly, they all walked (one rolled) out the door and headed to the park. When Tina saw that neither Kurt nor Mercedes had brought their car, she refused to question it.

When they got to the park, they were all just lying down the grass. Artie having left his wheelchair just within sight. To his left was Tina, staring at the now darkening sky. To her left was Kurt, who was trying to look comfortable, but the grass was just somehow itching in his back and he was twitching a lot. Next to him was Mercedes, and she was trying to tell Kurt to lie still cause she can't relax with someone practically dancing on the ground next to her. Tina bit the inside of her cheek to supress her laugh, Artie did the same.

He contemplated on the sights around him, his mind hopelessly unrelated to them. Somehow, he couldn't stay on one topic for long. At first it was about a butt-kicking round of Call Of Duty, then it went on to Glee club. Next he thought about his Science project which wasn't due until next week, Tina, the new movie he wanted to see, the reminder from himself to oil his wheels again, the delicious lasagna he had last night, Tina, his overdue library book on _Hamlet_, his suspenders, Tina, the new song he's currently obsessed with, Tina, Tina, Tina, Tina, Tina…..

"_AAAAAAAH!!" _Came a girlish squeal, to which Artie sat up immediately and checked on the lovely Asian next to him. She seemed as surprised as he was.

"I can't take it anymore!!" Kurt stood up, twitching all over, scratching places from his neck to his hair and under his shirt. He kind of looked like a crazed cowboy, Artie thought.

"Sorry, guys, guess this means we're going home," Mercedes said sorrowfully to Artie and Tina.

"No, it's ok. It w-was fun while it lasted." Tina said, smiling softly.

"See you at school then." Artie waved to them and he and Tina walked/rolled away, leaving Mercedes _tut-tutting_ at her crazed gay friend.

When time came for Artie and Tina to depart, she bent down and gave him a brief hug.

"G'night, Artie, I'm s-sorry we didn't get to f-finish our game t-today." Tina said shyly, scratching the back of her neck. Artie smiled.

"It's okay, Tina. Tomorrow we'll work on your Bobsled Bonanza." Now he had a _huge_ smile on his face.

"Isn't that hard?"

"Yes. Yes it is."

Tina's eyes widened.

"Don't worry, Tee, I'll guide you through it. That's why you hired me as your mentor in the first place, right?"

They both laughed.

"Th-thanks, Artie. For everything." Tina blushed as she said this. Artie was a bit confused. What did she mean by _"for everything"_?

"G'night, Tee, I'll see you tomorrow." And before he knew what he was doing, he took her hand in his and placed a light kiss on it. Tina blushed ten times before.

"R-r-r-right, um…T-t-take c-care, Artie."

"I will, thanks."

"You're w-welcome."

"Bye,"

"B-bye."

And then they both laughed. They laughed freely and most heartily than ever before.

"Seriously, d-dude, good night!" Tina said, her boyish side coming to take over again. Artie gave her a high five.

Which she returned, but as soon as their hands met, their fingers intertwined and they smiled most sheepishly.

"Good night," they whispered to each other at the same time.

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_Just so you know, the game they were playing is called "Plants vs Zombies" which, I truly think, is so stupid but the most awesome computer game in the world!!!! _

_Now go ahead and click that review button! You know you want to..._


	5. Bearable

**Please understand that this is my version of Wheels. It's very different, I know, but I couldn't do it based on the show because I'm not that good (Laughs).  


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Chapter Four**

Tina often found it hard to believe that a guy like Artie would actually take up cross stitching as a hobby. Though she had gotten used to it over the years, she still seemed it weird. She knew that he was not like any other guy out there and that he was hands down the nerdiest kid in the planet, but _cross stitching_?

"Tell me what you're thinking." Artie said, snapping her out from her reverie.

"Huh?" she stared at his blue eyes for a moment.

"You seemed deep in thought."

"I just th-think it's w-weird that you like c-cross stitching."

"Everybody does," he said with a hearty chuckle.

"W-well it is!" She frowned.

"I know, Tee," he smiled and leaned over to fix her furrowed eyebrows. "You might wanna try it sometime."

"Me? I d-don't think so."

"Is there a problem with it?"

"Artie, you _know_ how c-clumsy I am w-with these kinds of things. I b-barely have p-patience and am too lazy to count all those t-tiny c-crosses!"

"Just try it. Then maybe you'll understand why I love it so much." He handed her the cross stitching cloth, a thread, and a needle. He gave her a sweet, casual smile that always made Tina's knees turn to jelly. She would have crumbled to the floor if they weren't sitting side by side on his bed.

So she took them.

Artie taught her the basics of stitching patterns and she quite got the hang of it…

Well…not quite.

One hour into Tina's attempts of pleasing embroidery, she gave up. The bones in her fingers were suffering, her arms hurt from tangling and untangling all those threads over and over, and she felt some stings from where the needle got in touch with her skin.

"Tina, your hand," he pointed out carefully.

She looked down at her hands and was surprised to see some blood.

"I knew I should've given you duller needles…" he said, shaking his head. Tina could only stare at him in disbelief.

"Y-you had _dull_ needles??" She went furious.

"Hey, hey, hey! Don't get mad at me! You're the clumsy one!" He said, leaning as far away from her as possible and trying desperately to scoot away without causing damage with his limp legs. Even though he felt like laughing.

"Arthur Abrams…" she growled.

Artie gulped. "Yes?"

"D-do you know what I'm going to do _now_?"

"Uh-uh-uhm…" Acting on impulse, he grabbed Tina's hands in his and rubbed his thumbs over the scratches. Tina was petrified.

Artie looked smug.

He kept doing so for a few minutes until Tina calmed down and chose to lean her head back beside his on the headboard.

He still hadn't let go of her hands.

The silence and calm that swept over them was pleasing. It was comfortable and they enjoying it. Pretty soon, Tina's eyes began to droop mercilessly. She yawned a little but Artie noticed it before she could hide it.

"Tee—" Tina laid her head on his shoulder.

She was already half asleep when he heard her speak.

"Artie?"

"Hm?"

"You have a cute smile, you know that?"

It was a good thing she couldn't see how red his face was.

"I-I guess."

"And, Artie?"

"Hm?"

"Good night."

"Good night," Artie said as he smiled.

* * *

Artie opened the front door to his house with a bang and entered. His mother, upon seeing the look on his face, immediately became inquisitive.

"Artie? What's wrong?" She asked worriedly as she walked towards him and put a hand on his arm.

He shrugged it away. His mom was _pitying_ him, and that only made it worse. Pity was not always a good thing. Other people crave for it, but Artie had had enough looks of pity for the rest of his wheelchair-bound life.

He gave a huge, sad sigh.

His mom, always good at reading him, formulated a theory. And she decided to confirm this theory.

"Artie, how was your date with Ti—"

"Go away." He puffed and stormed off to his room.

"Artie! Artie, no! We have to talk about this!"

"FOR ONCE IN MY LIFE, JUST _LEAVE ME ALONE!!_"

He locked his bedroom door, unaware of the dejected feelings he left to his mother.

_How could she do this to me? How could she do this to me? How could she do this to me? How…_

He lay on his bed and thought. And thought. And thought. And thought. But the same sentence remains on his mind, leaving him with no other choice but to grieve for the pain in his heart.

Except, there was no grief—not for _her_. He truly cared for _her_, he really did. All he could feel was sympathy—sympathy for himself. He's all alone now. He was all alone all along. He thought he shared that road with _her_. But it was just him and nobody could truly comprehend who he is and how he feels.

He wasn't mad at _her_. He just couldn't understand why she'd lie to him all those years. Heck, he couldn't understand anything at all. The world was a whole complexity without _her_.

_How could she do this to me? How could she do this to me? How could she do this to me? How…_

* * *

_How could I do this to him? How could I do this to him? How could I do this to him? How…_

Tina paced frantic steps at the park. She would have done anything to be safe in her bed once again. But the second she stepped on her front porch, she knew it was a bad idea. And when she came in, the house was a mess—blotches of water and shards of glass on the floor, pillows thrown everywhere, curtains a disarray, and a furious mom and dad fighting and yelling at each other.

"_You never do anything! You just sit at work and stare at the computer screen all day! I can't believe you're not yet fired!"_

"_I'll have you know that I am the reason why this family is still holding firm!"_

"_Please, you're a woman! You don't have power over your husband!"_

"_And since when have you ever been my husband? Huh? Huh? The most intimate you've gone with me was probably when we had a child—and even _that_ was a mistake!"_

_Tina couldn't believe what she was hearing. After all that had happened today, she had hoped that all the drama would be over. She was wrong._

"_I was a mistake?" She said with a light sob. The tears on her face multiplied._

_Then there was complete and utter silence. Her parents didn't know what to say, and yet Tina had a million words hanging by the tip of her tongue._

"_So all _this_ was just—what? A charade?"_

_Still no answer._

"_YOU LIED TO ME!" She stomped her foot and threw a her backpack to the floor. _

_Her mother looked on the verge of tears. Her father kept a nuisance of a pokerface. _

"_It was all a fraud! You don't love me! All those times you kept telling me that you love me, that you cared for me, that you think I'm beautiful—all of it a lie!"_

_She was already backing out the door by now._

"_And you know what's worse?" She looked them straight in the eye. She began to cry and choked out her next words. "I thought I'd come home to the welcoming arms of two loving parents in spite of my hell-like life and tell me that everything's gonna be okay. That even though I'm not the perfect daughter," she looked up and talked firmly, "it's okay because I had you."_

_And then she stormed out of the house._

And that's the end of the story "How Everything Goes To Hell Because Of A Girl Named Tina Cohen-Chang."

_Damn, that was a good one! Artie would have thought of a zombie apocalypse and—_

Her thoughts came to an abrupt halt.

Thinking of everything that happened this day, she finally ought to lie down on the park bench and cry. She cried hard and lots. It was a good thing that it was too late for people to be strolling down the park.

She felt guilty and useless. The world was far better off without her. She might as well be dead, or have never been born.

Nobody understands. She's not even sure if she understands it herself. Not even Artie could understand the reason why she'd lied about her stutter.

And the reason why even though she _did_ stutter, she never stuttered his name.

She didn't know what to do and where to stay. She'd brought nothing with her when she ran away from home and had nowhere to sleep.

And so she didn't sleep.

* * *

When the sun began to shine, she made her move to at least look acceptable for school. She went to the nearest public restroom and took one look of herself on the mirror and was completely horrified.

Her hair was a mess, her face pale as plastic, somehow her eye colour seemed to fade a little, dark circles under her eyes, dry and chapped lips, severely wrinkled clothes, and mascara smeared down her cheeks.

She looked like a hooker on a hangover.

She gave one sad sigh and washed her face. She then proceeded to comb her hair using her hands and tried to smoothen out her clothes—all to no avail.

She sighed breathily again.

"Well, this is as good as it's gonna get."

And she made her way to school, not really eager to meet anyone, but she knew that there was something she had to do.

And that's what she did. She snuck peeks at him all day long, hiding behind her veil of long black hair, avoiding anyone she knew. Luckily, no one recognized her. She shared no classes with any of the glee kids and she had no intentions to go to rehearsals later. Sure they would all wonder why she wasn't there, but that's all they would do—wonder. Everybody wonders, and yet nobody cares. They wonder, but they're not affected. Not the least bit. Tina felt like a brick. Nothing interesting and definitely not something people would notice.

She slipped in and out of nowhere, cleverly avoiding people she needed to avoid, keeping her eyes and ears trained to a familiar set of wheels rolling down the hallway.

Because even though her life is a living hell, just the quick sight of him makes her life at least a little more bearable.

* * *

**I honestly have no idea what to think of this chapter. I just feel like I've written too much fun and quirk and I feel the need to show you guys that I can also write angsty and serious stuff (well, I tried. I don't know if I'm any good). So I really need your feedback on this. I think this is starting to have more plot and am looking forward to writing more, but only if I get enough feedback. I hope you weren't culture shocked too much.**


	6. Delirious

I'm sorry that this chapter has to be short! But I felt the need to stop at the right moment, please don't be mad! The rest of the story is up in my head so I'll be updating soon if I get a reasonable amount of reviews. How's you all been doing? I hope you're all fine and ready to face the next chapter of this (I must rather say) really weird story!

* * *

**Chapter Five**

She said she wouldn't attend Glee rehearsals, but that didn't stop Tina from spying anyway. After all, Artie was there. She really wanted to see his face—feel that flicker of relief one more time before the day ends.

She wasn't sure where she would go or what she would do. One thing's for sure though, she's not going to make a fool out of herself anymore.

_Maybe I can go and stay with Auntie Jane…yeah, I'm sure she'll understand my situation…_

Once she was within thirty feet of the choir room, after making sure all eleven students—and one teacher—already went in, she snuck to peek at the door inside through the screen.

"Okay, guys!" Mr. Schuester spoke through the babble of voices that was at once silenced upon hearing his voice. "As you may know, Sectionals is in a few weeks and we need to be ready! I have a few songs here I want you to try…"

Mr. Schuester went around the room handing out music sheets to each of the students.

"Rachel, you're the lead…Finn, you sing with Rachel… Mercedes… Puck… Kurt… Brittany… Mike… Matt… Santana… Artie… Ti—err, guys? Where's Tina?"

Without much hesitation, all the people in the room turned to Artie.

"Wh-why you all looking at me like that?" Artie said, looking nervous.

"You're with Tina _all_ the time! If anyone knows where she is, it would be you." Rachel spoke.

"So where is she, Wheels?" Mercedes said tauntingly.

Artie loosened his collar, trying to avoid everyone's eyes.

It was Brittany who let out the gasp. "You don't know?"

Artie slowly shook his head.

"WHAT?!" They all said. Even Mr. Schuester was quite aghast.

"We…" Artie bowed his head, "We had a fight. Yesterday. I never saw her since."

"Then why can't you just make up?" Kurt said casually, looking at his nails.

"It's not like that, okay?! This one… it's complicated."

Mercedes bent down to get eye level with him.

"Well you better keep your eyes peeled for her twenty four hours a day, seven days a week, understand?"

"Uh, wait," Brittany spoke up, "is that Eastern or Pacific time?"

Artie gulped and nodded.

He felt terrible.

Tina was nowhere to be found. There was no explaining how worried and guilty he was feeling. _What if something happened to her, and I wasn't there to save her because of this stupid fight?!_

He couldn't focus on the rest of the lesson. He would occasionally roll somewhere off the choreography, or sing on the wrong tone—or the wrong song, even!

"Um, Artie? Are you okay?" Brittany went over to him on one of their breaks and put a hand on his shoulder.

"I'm fine. Don't worry about me. A-and I'm sorry for messing up."

Brittany sat on the chair next to him. She looked him directly in the eye and reached over to hold his hand. Artie didn't flinch away.

Outside, hidden by the criss-cross patterns of the screen on the door and by a curtain of dark hair, Tina stood. She was watching him. Her heart ached even more. She was facing the fact that she was jealous.

_How dare Brittany hold my man's hand!_

_HOLD THAT THOUGHT, PRINCESS! _Her conscience spoke. _He's not _your_ man, and nor will he ever be. Get over that!_

Tina sighed sadly. Her conscience was right, however hallucinatory it may seem, Artie was not, is not, and will never be _her_ man.

Back inside the choir room, Artie stared at his and Brittany's joint hands. They spoke to each other ever so quietly.

"Aww, you miss her." She said with a smile. "You miss Tina."

Artie scoffed. "More than you could ever know."

"My dad's a police, by the way, he could help find her."

He smiled—his first real smile since yesterday. "Thanks for the offer, Britt, but things aren't that bad yet. She probably just had a sick day or something."

"But Tina's never been sick—well, not sick enough to miss school,"

"Who knows?" He said with a shrug.

"She's not sick." Puck interrupted. Apparently, he's been eavesdropping. All heads turned to look at him.

"Spill." Artie said seriously.

"Okay, um, I know I've been drunk when this happened…" he began, "but I swear this part was real. I came from the store, drunk and all, and passed by Tina's house. Well, I didn't know it was hers at first, but then I heard the screaming—"

"Screaming?" Artie asked worriedly. "Wh-who was screaming?"

"Errm… a dude and a woman fighting. And there was a lot of crashing and stuff… Then I saw Tina running home so fast that she didn't even see me—at least I hope she didn't. I got a glance on her face though, it looked like she'd been crying."

Artie's heart sank. Could all this really be his fault?

"And the two people said something about a… errm… let's see… lip's sake, beef steak, big lake? Oh! _Mistake!_ Yeah!"

All confuddled eyes turned to oggle him.

"What? I was drunk, okay?!" Puck reasoned. "Yeah, so when Tina heard that, she began screaming and crying and had this big dramatic speech then busted out the house. I tried to get her attention, but I was too drunk to even walk a straight line. I figured she'd come to Artie's so I thought she'd be safe so I went along on my journey."

There was a moment's silence.

Outside the room was a heavy breathing Tina. How had she not noticed Puck in her house yesterday?!

More sobs came from her throat, yet no tears would come out. She'd already dehydrated herself from all the crying.

Artie rolled to the side and allowed everyone to get out ahead of him. He sighed at the memory of Tina staying with him late in the choir room.

He felt a hand on his shoulder and looked up to see Brittany. He smiled at her softly.

"Don't worry, Artie," she smiled back, "You're close. I can feel it."

"You don't need to boost me up with optimism—"

"I'm not. I don't need to when optimism is practically shining in rays out your eyes and ears," she laughed, "But I'll tell you this: when two people are just so tight, they start to become the same person. They begin acting like the other person, looking like them, and even in emotional standards they are the same. A connection begins to form and becomes unbreakable. And through that, both of them become physically firmer and stronger than ever before. They stand together like a foundation—a cornerstone. And even the strongest sledgehammer can't ever rip them apart."

Artie looked at her, mouth agape, trying to reason with his theory of Al Gore's spirit taking over Brittany's body.

"Just go get her, Artie. That's all I'm saying. And do whatever it takes."

Artie continued to look stunned.

"What? I have my moments!"

She winked at him and walked out of the room.

Once Tina made sure that everyone was gone, she crept inside the choir room, closed the door, and sat on the piano bench (not that she knew how to play it).

She just missed the feeling of security the very room gives her. Its aura is always inviting. It made her smile a real smile.

She began playing random notes on the piano. The stupidity made her laugh.

Artie rolled fast. He forgot his backpack in the choir room! Could he be any more stupid?

Once he got to the door, he was puzzled by the sound coming from the room. Someone was playing the piano… Someone was _laughing_.

And of course, he knew that laugh. It always comforted him even in his tensest hour. He flung open the door. The laughter came to an abrupt halt.

Tina, upon seeing him face to face, felt a _huge_ weight lifted from her shoulders. He gave her a soft smile that always managed to melt Tina's heart as if it was butter.

"Hi there, Tina," he muttered sheepishly.

* * *

Sorry for the cliffhanger! It just had to be done. What was your favorite part of the story? :)


	7. Masochistic

**I'll be honest when I say I was quite disappointed when nobody reviewed the last chapter. I actually considered canceling the fic, but it's a good thing a fan of mine came up to me, telling me she wanted to know what happens next so here it is! PLEASE review this chapter. It's unnerving to the author if the fic has none. Seriously, it makes him/her contemplate on all the wrong things he/she had done.**

Chapter Six

"Hi there, Tina," he muttered sheepishly, looking deep into her eyes, her expression unreadable.

"Um," Tina couldn't speak. She was sure she'd done a good job at hiding from any glee clubbers—especially him! _I'm so stupid! _She thought. So she just sat there, staring at him, wide-eyed and petrified.

Artie rolled closer to her until he could lean his elbow on the piano, his face only inches away from hers. They never broke eye contact.

After a few silent minutes of staring, she bowed her head as she willed herself to cry, but as she did, still no tears would come out. She was dry sobbing.

"Tina, are you crying?!" Artie asked. Tina shook her head without looking at him. "Any explanation as to why your hair's more frizzy than it usually is, your clothes are the same as yesterday's, and you don't have that attractive--errm, evident gleam in your eyes anymore?"

Tina continued her dry sobbing, still not looking at him.

"Okay, okay." Artie tried to soothe her. He took her hands in both of his and ran his thumbs over the back of her hands.

Tina looked up at him with an incredulous expression.

Artie smiled sadly at her. He didn't mean to cause all this trouble for Tina. It was his fault that his angel had now broken down.

Tina felt guilty at his sad smile. She'd caused him pain—something she thought she would never ever do; yet here he was with a painful expression gracing his features. The guilt caused the sobs to get louder, her breathing more ragged, and more willingness to produce tears.

She couldn't handle this. She couldn't continue inflicting pain on the one person left to care for her. She can handle on her own. She can and will try. She just won't bring Artie into her mess of a life. The pain would just be even more unbearable.

She did the only thing she thought she had to do. She pulled her hands out from his grasp and ran out of the room, ignoring his painful pleas of him calling her name.

Pain.

There it was again. It was evident in his voice. She couldn't do this to him.

Artie gave another sad smile. _I'm not forgiven_, he thought. He wasn't forgiven for acting like a jerk to her and causing her this much suffering. Outside, he was smiling. Inside, he was doubling over in agony.

He felt tears threaten to fall out of his own eyes, but he blinked them back. _This is no time to cry, _he thought to himself, There are other things more important to do than cry. Anything is more important than that.

Tina ran and ran. She once stopped running when she was out of breath and sat down under a tree. But after a few minutes, she ran again until her destination was only a few feet away from her.

It was there. Her house. The familiar front porch painted a cool green with the familiar stony walkway leading to it. But instead of feeling like a resident, she felt like a stranger—an outsider. But she had to do this.

She took a deep breath and walked down the familiar (and yet odd) walkway.

She opened the door to find stacks and stacks of boxes. All the furniture was gone. There were just boxes.

"Dad?" She whispered when she saw him carrying one box and dropping it next to the other boxes.

"Oh, there you are," he grunted, "We thought you'd never come home. But I always knew you won't be able to survive long on your own,"

"Yes I can!" She unintentionally shouted.

"Oh really? When's the last time you ate, then?" He pointed.

And as if on command, Tina's stomach grumbled loud.

"Now pack up your stuff. We're moving. To England."

"Already?!" she said incredulously. "I was only gone for one day and we're already moving?!"

"That's business, Tina, something you wouldn't understand until you prep up for law school this summer."

"What?! But I thought we talked about this? I want to do music, Dad! I don't wanna be a lawyer!"

He stepped in front of her, their faces inches away, and he pointed a finger at her nose.

"Tina Cohen-Chang, you will pack up your stuff and do as I say right now!"

"NO! I'm tired of people telling me what to do! I do NOT want to go to law school!"

"You listen to me, you little rascal! Singing your butts off to college won't earn you money because you're not a good singer!"

"Well I'm not a good lawyer either!"

"You're going to law school!"

"I have Glee club!" _Not anymore._

For a few seconds, only their heavy breathings were heard, both faces red with fury.

"If you become a lawyer, you can earn lots of money than trying to find your way through 'Stardom'." He put air quotes on the last word. "You'll be rich and have anything you want!"

"And become like you? I don't think so."

Tina took a little moment to gasp. She never thought she'd be capable of telling that to her own father. A new fury lit up inside her.

Her father looked at her with such wrath, his forehead vein was popping out.

"You," he spat at her, "are not my daughter!"

Tina bowed her head and wiped some spit away. She looked up, looked him in the eye, and said oh so softly, "It's not like I want to be."

She walked backwards, her own heart and flesh aching, gave him one last pointed look, and ran out of the house for the last time.

Once again, she sat at the park bench, the chilly wind slapping her on the face. It was dark, but she couldn't care. She was in so much pain and wanted to kill herself just to relieve it. Her stomach was growling and she looked even more horrible. She was sleepy, yet couldn't drift off to Dreamland. Her mind was boggling.

_I can't believe I got disowned. Was I such a terrible person that I got disowned not only by my parents, but by my best friend too?_

Dry sob.

Blink.

Dry sob.

Blink.

Scream of agony.

New round of dry sobs.

Familiar squeaking of wheels.

Arms wrap around her.

More dry sobs.

"Shush, Tina, don't worry. Artie's here. I won't let anybody hurt you. I promise." He rocked her back and forth.

Tina gave a resigned sigh and finally looked him in the eye. She looked fierce, making Artie think she was uncomfortable. But as he started to unwrap his arms from her, she whimpered at the sudden lack of protection and he replaced them around her.

"Nobody wants me, Artie." She finally told someone. And a huge weight was lifted off her shoulders.

"That's not true, Tee. Lots of people love you." He answered truthfully.

"No they don't. They're all just using me to make themselves richer. They boss me around, and-and drop cold slushie on my head, a-and..."

"And what, Tina?"

She looked up at him. "And they break my heart."

Artie could feel his own heart breaking. He tightened his grip on her.

"Just relax, Tina. I'm here to protect you. The pain will all go away soon." He chanted to comfort both of them.

"You should go home now, Artie. Don't waste your time around people like me."

"I'll only go if you come with me."

"Wh-what?"

"You heard me. Tina, I saw what happened in your house. There's no way you'll be able to go back in there."

She stared at her muddy shoes. "I wasn't going to."

"Then what were you going to do? So far you lasted a day without sleep, food, home, and company. What the hell were you going to do?!"

Tina merely shrugged.

"Tina, you're hurting yourself. Oh gosh, please don't scare me like that!" He hugged her even tighter and rocked her.

"I deserve the pain. And I thought you of all people would know that."

"No! Tee, I care about you. Too much that I don't want to lose you." His pleading eyes were now drilling hard into her pain-inflicted ones.

"B-but I thought you hate me?" Furrows formed in her forehead in confusion. Artie stare at her wide-eyed. He leaned into her and kissed her forehead, clearing it of all the furrows.

Tina still wouldn't budge, but her expression softened. "But you're in pain when you're with me. I can't do that to you. You could just stay out of this heck of a life."

"I'm in pain when I see you in pain. Because I keep thinking I'm not doing a good job at protecting you." He said sincerely.

"You don't have to protect me." She reasoned.

"Am I your best friend or not?"

"After what happened yesterday, not anymore."

"You're wrong. I spent the whole day worrying about you." Tina scoffed at that. She shook her head.

"No, you spent the whole day hitting it off with Brittany." She wanted to cry more at that.

"What? How did you know—"

"I was spying on you—on all of you, making sure I wouldn't run into any of you guys and not missing Glee."

"Look, Tee, there's nothing going on with me and Brittany."

"Puh-lease, Artie," she said, her tone now more comedic, "Soft whispering? Holding hands? Staying after meetings?" She raised an eyebrow at him.

"She noticed how distracted I seemed. And, if you must know, she offered her dad's forensic services to come find you."

She blinked at him.

"We were all distracted. No one could believe that you of all people would miss Glee. We missed you. _I_ missed you."

She shook her head. "You're wrong. They were only pretending to care so they would seem polite, like what you're doing right now. You can't possibly care this much for me. And you know deep inside that it's better if you just left me alone."

"Tina, what has your dad done to you?"

"Lots of stuff." She tried to shrug it off, but Artie didn't miss the flicker of fear and drastic nostalgia in her eyes.

"Look, if this is about you lying about your stutter, forget it. I was never mad at you. One little lie just wasn't worth it."

"No, you hated me. I saw it in your face. It was something I could never forget."

"I'm sorry if I acted like a jerk to you back then."

"You don't have to say sorry, Artie." She sighed heavily, "You don't have to cause, as always, I fucked up."

"No! It's all my fault! If I haven't sent you running to your home to find what you saw, all this could have never happened to you!" His arms around her loosened a bit.

"I'm still sorry for lying, Artie."

He smiled at her softly and held out one hand to her. "So are you coming with me, then?"

She couldn't help but return the smile. "You're being so masochistic by doing this. I hope you know that."

"Eh, I want to try something new for a change." He said, attempting to make her laugh.

She smiled genuinely at him, stood up, and took her place behind his chair.

"No, Tina," he said suddenly, "You're tired and hungry. Come here."

Confused, she stepped in front of him.

He pulled her down to his lap and rolled away, smiling in relief.

"Are you sure this is okay with you?" She asked him, making sure she wasn't a burden or anything.

"Yes, I'm sure."

She laid her head on his chest, relaxed, and closed her eyes.

And at last, the angel was at peace.

**Please review and tell me what you think. I cried while writing this :')**


	8. Hormonal

**Awww! Thank you guys so much for all your reviews last chapter! So you do love me! Hehehe... So it is for that reason that I decided to post the new chapter much more early than planned! Aaand also because I went swimming today and I got hit in the jaw with a flying styrofoam kickboard and am now attempting to write off the pain. Love you guys!!**

**

* * *

Chapter Seven**

"Tina? Tina, wake up. We're here," a soft voice cooed in her ear.

She made no move to get up. She was far too comfortable to do so. She hugged whatever she was lying on tighter. The voice chuckled.

"Tina, I know how much you love your sleep, but you have to eat."

"No, I like this." She said and snuggled into her pillow.

"Sooner or later you're gonna have to let go of me," he chuckled again, "Although, I don't really mind this..."

Tina got up with a shock. She had been sleeping and sitting on Artie and she didn't know. Heat filled her cheeks as she shyly looked up at him.

"I'm sorry." She said sheepishly.

Artie shook his head and smiled. "It's okay."

He reached up to the doorknob to find that it was locked. But seeing as the lights inside were on, he knocked on the door. A few seconds later, the door opened and out came his mother.

"ARTHUR ABRAMS! WHAT'S GOT YOU STAYING OUTSIDE THIS LATE AT NIGHT?! I WAS FREAKIN--Oh." She came to an abrupt stop when she saw Tina sitting on her son's lap, her face a deep shade of red.

Tina was so embarrassed at being spotted like this. She made to get up but Artie wrapped his arms around her waist to stop her.

"Mom," he spoke, "Can you please just let us in and give Tina something to eat? We'll explain the situation right away."

Mrs. Abrams wasn't sure of what to do, but one look at Tina's pale face took all hesitation away from her. She nodded and opened the door wider to let them in.

Artie rolled them to the dining room, where Tina stood up to sit in a proper chair (not that she minded her previous position much).

Mrs. Abrams gave both of them a bowl of soup and some bread sticks. Tina dug in immediately, only realizing how really hungry she was. Artie looked amused.

"Oh Tina," Mrs. Abrams exclaimed, "I thought I'd never see you again!" And she really did. Seeing Artie's face after their "date" drained her of all hopes in seeing her angelic face. "I'm so glad Artie came to his senses!"

"Mom, we've got other, more important matters at hand." Artie said with a serious expression on his face. Tina just kept eating, all her other senses drowned by the sensation of having her stomach filled with food again. He smiled and gave her his soup and bread. Tina hesitated and looked at him. He just nodded and she smiled gratefully.

Mrs. Abrams let out an "Awww!" which only made Artie's cheeks go red.

"Anyways, Tina... Tina got disowned, mom." He finally said.

Mrs. Abrams let out a gasp. "What? But how?"

"It's a long story—"

"I got disowned cause they didn't want me in the first place anyway. It was only a matter of time." Tina cut in then bit her bread stick.

"Oh Tina!" Mrs. Abrams hugged the life out of her. "I'm so sorry."

"Don't be, Mrs. Abrams. It wasn't your fault."

Artie cleared his throat. "So, uhhh, mom... She kinda... needs a place to stay." He said rather nervously, not sure how his mom would react.

"Of course Tina could stay here," she said, "But I'm afraid we don't have a spare bedroom. You'll have to sleep in Artie's room." She told Tina, who dropped her bread stick with shock.

"A-are you sure, Mrs. Abrams? I mean, I don't want to intrude in your home. I can deal with my own problems," she smiled nervously, "And Artie, I'm pretty sure you probably want to keep your privacy in your bedroom."

"Tina, Tina, Tina," he said, shaking his head, "Look what you're doing to yourself! You haven't eaten and slept for a long time! You most certainly can _not_ handle it."

Mrs. Abrams gasped again. "She hasn't? Sweetie, what were you thinking??" She exclaimed and handed Tina another bread stick.

"And I don't mind sharing my room, Tee." He smiled at her. She smiled back.

"Thank you so much you guys," Tina said, "You're all so nice to me."

"Oh dear, you're already like family to us!" Mrs. Abrams hugged her.

"Thanks, Mrs. Abrams." She smiled.

"Don't mention it, sweetie. But please call me Jill."

"Oh. Sorry. Thanks, Jill."

After Tina finished all her food, she was led to Artie's bedroom in the first floor, where a soft makeshift bed of foam and clustered blankets and pillows wait for her on the floor beside Artie's bed.

"Man, I can't wait to go to sleep!" Tina exclaimed once there were just the two of them. "But I need to go to shower. I look like crap!"

Artie smiled at her, glad to have his old best friend back. "There's a bathroom over there," he pointed to a door in the room.

"Thanks," she smiled back.

Just as she was headed to the door, she stopped.

"Um, Artie?"

"Yeah?"

"I just realized... I have no clothes."

"OH! Oh!" He smacked his forehead at forgetting such a thing. "You can wear some of mine, I guess. I mean, mom's clothes are even bigger than mine." He thought of his mother's very plumpy form.

"You don't mind?" She asked, biting her lip.

"Don't worry, Tee." He rolled to his dressers and grabbed the smallest shirt he could find. Then a pair of his boxers. He handed them to her and she smiled.

"Thanks again, Artie." And she went inside the bathroom to take a much-needed shower.

In the middle of her shower, Tina smiled as the familiar smell of Artie's shampoo intoxicated her. For a minute she just stood there, breathing it in and out, and then she went back to her business.

When she was done, she stepped out of the shower area and stepped on something. She looked down and could've screamed.

She'd stepped on her clothes. Not just her clothes, but also her underwear. Surely Artie couldn't lend her any of that!

She just stood there in shock, dripping, until all her clothes were too drenched to be worn. Guess she'd just have to go underwear-less and _pray_ that Artie won't notice!

She put her clothes in the wastebasket and glared at them.

She got into his clothes and went out of the bathroom to find Artie on his bed, his wheelchair beside it, reading a book, wet hair on his head. He'd also taken a shower. When he heard her come, he looked up and waved.

Oh but he noticed.

_Oh shoot!_ he thought. _Of course she'd need underwear! How stupid was I?!_

But then again, he was still a boy with raging hormones and those hormones overpowered him at that moment. He took notice of her nipples peeking through his shirt. Oh god, _his_ shirt. She had no idea what crazy things she was doing to him.

Tina noticed his eyes on her chest and she blushed. "Uh-err, uhm... I'm done." She said rather weakly.

Artie went back to staring at her face, his face also going tomato red. "Uh, yeah. Uhm... make yourself at home!" He mentally kicked himself at his stupid remark. But she smiled at his awkwardness, thinking it was adorable.

She's felt so stupid when she admitted to herself that she liked the thought of seducing Artie. She wanted to kick herself for thinking those thoughts of her best friend. That was just wrong!

...But she did like him. And she still does. And all the things that have happened only seemed to make those feelings stronger.

Artie felt so embarrassed. He suddenly remembered his conversation with his mom on his way to the other bathroom.

_"Artie? I need to talk to you." She said to him._

_"Yes, mom?"_

_"I just want you to know that I don't mind in the slightest that Tina's going to stay with us, but since she's sleeping in your room... Uhh..." She trailed off awkwardly. Artie blushed._

_"No! No, mom! I just... no, it's not like that! We're still trying to patch things up between us. No funny business, I promise."_

_"Okay, okay. But since I suppose you already told her that you can still use your pen—"_

_"MOM! Stop talking about that!"_

_"Sorry, sweetie. I trust you." She smiled at him._

_"Thanks, mom." He smiled back and rolled to the bathroom._

_"There's a pack of condom in your bottom dresser!" She reminded him just as he was going to open the door._

_"MOM!" His face heated up._

_"I was just saying!" His mother smiled mischievously and walked away._

Oh wow. He promised his mom there'd be no funny business. Yet here he was, greatly aroused by her. His face heated up even more for the umpteenth time that night.

"So, umm..." He said to break off the awkward silence.

"What're you reading?" She piped up.

"Oh, just the fourth Harry Potter book."

Tina laughed at him. "You're such a nerd!"

Artie smiled at her as she walked closer to him and sat next to him on his bed, feeling suddenly confident.

"But you're an _adorable_ nerd." Artie blushed.

"Uhm... Thanks?" He said and laughed as Tina ruffled his hair. They really did miss the good old days.

"But then again, I didn't get to read that yet. Book three was so much drama! Seriously, who could have guessed that Sirius Black was actually innocent? It's Peter Pettigrew that should be in Azkaban with the Dementors, I mean really! And Hermione's time turner really rocked. Not to mention Buckbeak! I cried when I thought they actually killed him! And Harry really thought it was his father that cast the Patronus charm but—surprise surprise! It wasn't!" She finished. Artie stared at her, mouth agape.

"I didn't know you've read Harry Potter!" He exclaimed.

"Oh, I read the first three books last summer while you were away for music camp. I was bored out of my wits."

"Well then how would you like to read with me?"

"I'd love that." She smiled at him.

They spent the next hour reading the book. They got until page 82 until Tina sighed and yawned.

"Bedtime." Artie said and closed the book. He put it on his bedside table. "Don't worry, Tee, tomorrow's a Saturday so you can sleep in as long as you want." He tapped her nose and she giggled.

"Thanks so much, Artie. I really thought you hated my guts, and yet you do all this and..."

"When are you gonna get it in your head that I'm doing this because I lo—errm, because you're my best friend?" He smiled at her.

She got down and lied on her own sleeping place.

"Good night, Artie."

"Night, Tee."

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**Whoop! Tina's now got a place to stay! YAY! And they still like each other! DOUBLE YAY! But they're still too afraid to break their friendship to actually be a couple! AWW!**

**This chapter was really fun to write, even though it wasn't my best. I still hope you'll review! The more reviews I get, the sooner the next update would be!!**


	9. Erotic

**I'm so sorry for not updating sooner, but thanks to everyone who read and reviewed! These past few days had just been busy with me planning the next episode for our comedy webshow... And it's gonna be a bit busier once summer vacation's over and school (bleurgh) resumes at June 14. But I promise you that I will not stop this story! You just have to be a teeny, weeny, tiny bit patient. *Smiles innocently***

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**Chapter Eight**

Artie woke up from a seemingly dreamless sleep and opened his eyes to see that it was 8:32am on a Saturday morning. He grabbed his glasses from his bedside drawer and put them on. Tina had always wondered why he wouldn't just wear contact lenses. Truth is, he's tried them, but they were just too much of a hassle. And since he doesn't really care about his looks much (except maybe when Tina's around), he stuck to his glasses.

He yawned and stretched his arms. He then transferred himself to his wheelchair and wheeled himself to the door. He stopped abruptly when he bumped into something. He looked down and saw that it was Tina's foot. She groaned.

"Artie, there's a burglar in the room," she said flatly, still half asleep. Artie chuckled.

"No, it's me, Tee. Go back to sleep."

A small smile formed at Tina's face upon hearing his voice. He waited for her breathing to still before he completely got out of the room.

He rolled to the kitchen and grabbed a piece of toast from the counter.

"G'morning, mum," he greeted, his mouth full, as his mother entered the room.

"Good morning, how's Tina doing?"

"Still asleep. But, mom, I think she needs some shopping,"

"Hmm, why?" she asked distractedly.

"Well—ahhh... well... she doesn't.... have any other clothes..." said Artie as he blushed a little upon remembering last night's events of wet, underwear-less Tina.

"Oh..." said Jill, "Very well, I'll give you the money later this afternoon then."

"What? Mom, I can't go shopping with her!" Artie panicked.

Jill dropped the small towel she was holding and faced her son. "I don't see why not!"

"But I'm a guy!"

"And what's wrong with that?"

"I mean, what if—" his face heated up, "what if she wants to shop for clothes...you know? Errm... privately?"

"Then she'll assure that you will not be within twenty feet of Victoria's Secret, okay?"

"Mom," Artie groaned, "she needs a girl! She's gonna be all uncomfortable if I come with her! Why can't you?"

"Because I'm busy for this weekend, Artie," exclaimed Jill as she began pacing, "I've got two new clients, one with OCD and the other with severe kleptomaniac issues, Mandy's getting married next weekend and I'm not even halfway through the decorations, your dad announced that his business trip would last a week longer, and your grandmother's not feeling well and if all goes downhill, I MIGHT SPEND A MONTH AWAY FROM HERE TO COMFORT HER! IN ENGLAAAAAND!" Her fists slammed down the counter as her wide, frantic eyes stared at Artie's.

"So...um...how's grandma?" Artie said awkwardly.

Jill drew in a huge breath. "I'm sorry, honey, I'm just... really stressed."

There was awkward silence, which Artie decided to break.

"Coffee?" he offered her a mug.

"Thanks," she took the cup and left.

Once she was out of earshot, Artie muttered into his juice.

"Must be PMS-ing."

-O-

After lunchtime and a few hours of cheesy 2D cartoons from the local cable, Artie decided to just go back in his room to check on Tina.

The sleeping angel was lying peacefully beneath the thin sheet of blanket. The sunlight streamed down on her face, making it scrunch up in slight annoyance. Artie rolled over to the window to close the curtains and went back to her sleeping form.

He sat himself on the floor next to her and used his arms to cross his legs. He then brought out a hand to stroke some hair out of her face. She sighed into his touch. He smiled and lied down on the floor beside her, their noses almost touching.

His breath mingled with hers as his hand continued to stroke her hair. His thumb brushed over her eyelid and went down to her cheek, to her jaw, then to her lips—her sweet pink lips that he longed so much to kiss and were now only centimeters away from his. His thumb carried on to her nose bridge, then back to her lips. A soft moan was elicited from her throat.

Artie was shocked by her reaction but carried on. His heart thumped wildly as his eyes once again fell to her chest. He felt himself grow hot and quickly shifted his gaze to her beautiful face.

The beautiful face's eyelids fluttered open. Artie tried to move away but wasn't quick enough.

"Artie?" she said, her voice still thick with sleep.

"H-hi, T-tee," he stammered helplessly and blushed. She smiled.

"Good morning," said Tina. Artie chuckled.

"Actually, it's three in the afternoon. You slept for a good fifteen hours."

"I did? Wow."

They both chuckled.

Tina's breath exhilarated when she felt Artie's hand that was still in her hair. She smiled coyly and reached up to touch his own hair. He was quite taken aback at first, but of course he didn't move away.

He stroked his hand down the length of her hair and curled it on his fingers. She tangled her fingers in his hair and tugged slightly. Artie tried to bite back a moan that was threatening to come out at the tip of his tongue, but to no avail. The sound urged Tina on as she took her hands out of his hair and trailed it down his bicep, her eyes staring daggers to his, looking for signs of rejection. She found none and moved her hand to his chest, over his heart, where frantic thumping could be felt. Their faces still dangerously close, he moved his hand from her hair to the small of her back and lightly pushed her to him. Their chests were now touching and their eyes were clouded with such an emotion neither of them had seen before. His hand moved down until it rested on the hem of her shirt. But since it was _his_ shirt, the hem reached below her butt. He played with the hem for a few seconds before lifting it up and revealing a small space of skin on her back. His hand came to rest there.

Her breathing was frantic, yet she couldn't allow him to win this game. That's right. That's what it was—a game. It was unspoken, yet they both knew what it was. She bit her lip and her hand moved up and down his chest until she fisted his shirt and her hand went inside and continued its rubbing.

Their eyes were still wary, but their emotions were clear with lust. They never broke eye contact. It was just her rubbing his bare chest and him rubbing her bare back. She hoisted her leg over his hip and—

_"Artie! I'm gonna go now, okay? Shopping money's on the table!"_ Jill's voice was heard from outside the room, immediately clearing the air between them.

"We should probably go," Tina said after a few moments of awkward silence and disentangled herself from him, bringing her heat with her. Artie couldn't mask the look of disappointment that crossed his face but climbed on his chair all the same.

-O-

About forty-five minutes later, Artie and Tina were at the mall. Her own clothes had dried a bit and since she had no other choice, she wore them to look decent in public. It itched a lot but that only gave Tina more initiative to buy the new clothes since she couldn't shop to save her life.

"You know what I'd like?" Tina said to Artie once she'd bought enough clothes to fit two shopping bags.

"What?" asked Artie curiously.

"To go to the bookstore. Come on, let's go!" she began to pull him to another direction but Artie cut her out.

"No, Tee. You still need more clothes. Those—" he pointed to the bags on her arms, "—are not gonna cut it."

Tina groaned and sighed. "Fine. But I'll get my Charles Dickens soon!"

"Charles Dickens?" he inquired inquisitively.

"Yes, he's quite the author."

"I just never saw you as a classics type."

"Says the boy who reads Harry Potter."

"Hey! Hey! Hey! That book is legend, okay?"

"Whatever," she rolled her eyes and laughed.

Three hours later, Tina assured him that the clothes she bought were enough but Artie still insisted she get more. This fight went on for a few more minutes until he finally gave up and decided to just go home.

When they reached their destination and unlocked the door, Artie found a note on the fridge.

_Artie & Tina,_

_Sorry, I'll be working late tonight. I'm sure you can handle dinner. Have fun!_

_-Jill _

Artie sighed and Tina ordered pizza.

They popped in a movie in the DVD player and he pressed play.

When the pizza arrived, they shared that too.

Cheese and garlic—both their favorite flavor of pizza.

When they had enough pizza, Tina took the liberty of clearing their plates and leaving the leftovers in the fridge. When she came back to the living room, she saw Artie yawn.

"Looks like someone's a bit sleepy now, eh?" she teased and claimed her seat next to him.

"No way. I'm finishing this movie no matter what."

Tina shrugged. "Suit yourself."

Ten minutes later, Artie's head was on her lap, "resting" his eyes as she played with his hair subconsciously.

Tina felt herself drift off after a tiring day of shopping and couldn't find it in her heart to move Artie so she rested her head on the armrest and fell asleep.

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**NOW BRING ON THE PITCHFORKS! WHO LIKES JILL ABRAMS NOW? MWAHAHAHAHA! **

**Thank you for reading and PLEASE REVIEW! I LOVE YOU GUYS! :D **

**~Mary~**


	10. Awakened

**Here's Chapter 9! Sorry for not updating sooner. I had a very bad week (the only highlight being the new episode of Glee). Whom of you watched "Dream On" last week? It was so heartbreaking! That's definitely my new favorite episode! I couldn't stop watching Artie's Safety Dance video haha :)**

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**Chapter Nine**

** Artie felt himself zone out from sleep mode. There was a faint throbbing on his nose bridge and he groaned.**

_Eurgh, I slept with my glasses on again._

However, he was a bit taken aback to find that he was not, in fact, on his bed. And even with his glasses on, his vision was blurry and dark... with yellow stripes...

_AAAHH! I'M BLIND!_

But wait! He soon came to realize that he fell asleep on Tina's lap and instead of facing the sunny window in his living room, he was facing something that no man without a wife or girlfriend should face. He felt his face heat up and he got up and adjusted his legs to a sitting position.

He saw Tina sleeping on the couch's armrest, her neck craning to the right as far as it would go. He took note of her uncomfortable position and tried to pull her to a more promising one. He tugged lightly on her arm and used his other hand to guide her head so she can lie down fully on the sofa. As he was doing this, he marveled in seeing her sleeping form. It was something you never get tired of. His conscience chose to speak to him at that moment.

_You're not supposed to like her! It's wrong!_

_But I do... _he countered.

_But you can't! Last time you tried dating, she lost her family, her house, and almost lost her friends! What more could she possibly lose?_

Artie sighed in defeat. Perhaps his conscience was right. He's not supposed to like her. If they date and it didn't work out, what would happen to her? She was living with him. She needed him right now. And that's not supposed to be ruined by their relationship. She couldn't possibly lose anymore than she already had. She was too good for him anyway. She would only break his heart.

He continued moving her, though she countered his acts by snuggling to him unconsciously, wrapping her arms around his waist and leaning her head on his shoulder.

Artie wanted to groan—from pleasure or annoyance, he didn't know.

_This was going to be harder than I thought._

-O-

He decided to just wait for her to wake up. He leaned his head on hers and while he was doing that, he did the one thing he usually does—think. Though usually he would think about this week's homework or the Big Bang theory or something as nerdy as that, today was different. Today he was thinking of the sad realization that there was a girl, who was in fact wrapped in his arms at the moment, that he could never have. It was depressing, wallowing on something like that. Forbidden love? He didn't know. Didn't care. He never understood what girls found so romantic in forbidden love. They think it's so _Romeo and Juliet_. Yeah, it was romantic. They died.

Tina stirred and took in her surroundings. There was something on the top of her head and she was leaning on something that smelled like cinnamon and apple juice. She then opened her eyes and groaned as the sunlight streamed on her face.

"Oh!" a voice exclaimed and a pair of arms unwrapped around her. "I-I'm so sorry, Tee! It was just, you looked uncomfortable so I tried repositioning you a-and we... ended up like this," Artie bowed his head to hide his blush.

"N-no, it's okay, Artie," she smiled at him. He slowly but surely looked up to meet her eyes.

She started to lean in closer with an unreadable expression on her face. Artie's conscience told him to pull back, his typical hormonal teenage boy self telling him otherwise. He felt her breath on his lips and he had the urge to close his eyes. When their faces were only inches away from each other's, she sniffed.

"Artie, you smell good," Tina said, and quickly cupping her mouth with her hand once she realized how strange that sounded.

"I-I do?" he asked inquisitively.

"Yeah, you smell like apples... and cinnamon," she admitted shyly, "Is that weird?" she quickly added, making him chuckle.

"For me it is. I'm allergic to cinnamon,"

"Yeah, but you smell like it," she ruffled his hair (like she always does) and stood up from the couch, stretching.

Last night's events suddenly went in Artie's mind as he was replacing himself on his wheelchair and he groaned.

"I can't believe I slept through the middle of _The Hangover_! That was the greatest movie of all time!" he slapped his face.

"Well you've seen that movie, like, nine times already. Don't you think that's enough?"

"Still, the ferocity in their attitudes are somewhat educational," he countered.

Tina rolled her eyes at him. Only Artie Abrams can watch a movie filled with four drunk guys doing things such as pulling their own tooth, stealing a tiger, and peeing in a pool and still call it educational.

They went in the kitchen to find Jill already in there, cooking some eggs.

"Good morning, kids! How was your night?" she greeted upon seeing them.

"Great. We slept on the sofa," Artie answered, almost sarcastically.

"What?" Jill said, looking at them with a shocked expression on her face.

"Yeah, didn't you see us?" Tina asked, confused.

"Well, I had a busy night and this throbbing head ache won't leave me alone so I only had my mind set on the pack of Tylenol in the medicine cabinet," by the time she finished saying this, she had already put the eggs and bacon on two plates and served them to the two teenagers.

"Mom, what are you gonna eat?"

"Oh, I already ate something. Right now, all I wanna do is head back to that bedroom and get some sleep!" Jill kissed Artie briefly on the cheek and ran out of the room.

Artie and Tina started munching on their breakfast.

"I can't believe I didn't notice mom in the kitchen when I woke up," Artie mused.

"Well that happens when you're thinking deeply about something," Tina answered him, smirking.

Artie raised his eyebrows at her.

"So what were you thinking about?" she asked curiously. Artie felt uneasy all of a sudden.

"Oh, errm—uhhh, just... this weeks homework and the Big Bang theory," he explained lamely. To his surprise, Tina laughed.

"You're such a nerd!" she kept laughing and choked a bit at a piece of bacon. She sipped some water to down it.

"Haha," Artie muttered sarcastically.

-O-

A few hours later, the pair found themselves in an ice cream parlour. She had a nice coffee-flavoured ice cream and he a banana split. It was through boredom that they found themselves there. This day was uneventful so they decided to head outside to hang out.

Tina scooped another spoon of ice cream in her mouth and moaned at the taste. Artie chuckled.

"Enjoy it for now. Let's be glad not to have these cold treats dumped on our heads," he said, "I propose a toast!" he lifted up his banana split container into the air in front of him. Tina got into a fit of giggles and lifted up her ice cream container too.

"Yeah, to not having these cold treats on our faces!" she said and bumped her glass with his.

They laughed some more and went back to eating their ice cream.

"Well," she mused, "except for this—" she dipped her finger in her ice cream and smeared it on Artie's cheek. He was taken aback in surprise. She laughed even more.

"No fair!" he pouted and dipped his finger in his ice cream and tried to get Tina's nose, but she turned aside and he hit her hair instead. Tina faked a gasp.

"You did _not_ just touch the hair, Abrams," she said fiercely.

"I believe I just did," he smirked.

"Oh now it's on!" she exclaimed and grabbed handful of ice cream to dump on Artie's head. He did the same and smeared some more on her nose and chin. She squealed and got some on his neck. Both were in uncontrollable fits of laughter.

It was then that they noticed the stares they were getting and suddenly remembered that they were in an ice cream parlour having a full out ice cream war, both their faces covered in the sticky goodness. Luckily they made no splats on the floor and wall.

They both stared back nervously and Tina began to take the handles of Artie's wheelchair and lead them to the sinks in the corner of the building where they both cleaned off.

"I can't believe we had an ice cream fight in an ice cream parlour!" Tina exclaimed, throwing a crumpled piece of paper at Artie, but still with a smile on her face.

Artie laughed a little. "But you gotta admit, it was fun," he beamed at her.

Tina rolled her eyes. "Yeah, it was," she admitted, "but now I have to wash this ick out of my hair,"

"Me too, you know!" he said and once they were clean of ice cream (their hairs not included), they headed out of the building to go back home.

On their way out, Tina couldn't help but feel as if a pair of eyes was watching her. She ignored that feeling, though and pushed Artie out the door.

"Wait here," she suddenly said, "I gotta go to the bathroom," she let go of his handles.

"What is it with girls and bathrooms?" Artie asked her with a raised eyebrow.

"Girls don't have bladders as strong as boys do!" she explained and ran back inside.

Artie chuckled then sighed.

"Artie Abrams?" a female voice said from behind him. He turned around to face a woman with pale white skin, wearing a business suit, her hair tight in a bun. She looked like someone familiar...

"Mrs. Chang?" he asked, thoroughly surprised. And all of a sudden, he was nervous.

"Yes, it's me," she smiled weakly at him.

"W-what are you doing here? I thought you moved?" Artie asked.

"We're moving later. I have to talk to you,"

"Are you sure you don't want to talk to Tina? She's just in the restroom..." he trailed off when he saw Mrs. Chang shake her head and sigh.

"She hates me now. But I just can't leave without knowing how she really is. Is she living with you?"

"Y-yeah, she is," he answered rather nervously.

"Does that mean you guys are—"

"NO! Oh, I mean, no, Mrs. Chang. We're not... err... what were you going to say?" his breathing started to get heavier. The woman sighed and smiled a knowing smile at him.

"Okay," he confessed, "I like her. But she doesn't feel the same way anyway,"

She nodded, tears starting to form in her eyes. Artie was starting to get shocked.

"Just _please_, Artie, I beg of you," her weak voice said as she kneeled down on the floor, "Please take care of her. I love her more than anything in the world." She gave him a pleading look and the woman kneeling in front of him took Artie aback.

It was at that moment that he just knew that he would go to great lengths just to make sure she's safe.

Artie nodded in determination.

"Thank you," Mrs. Chang said heartily, standing up straight once again, her hard demeanor nowhere to be found, "I knew I could trust you."

When Artie shot her a confused look, she explained. "I saw your ice cream fight," she smiled and laughed a little, "I've never seen her so happy," tears started to roll down her cheeks. "Well, that's all I have to say. And I would appreciate it if you would keep this between the two of us, okay?" He nodded. "Thank you again," she hugged him briefly and walked away.

"You take care, Mrs. Chang," he called to her and she just gave a smile and waved goodbye.

"Ready to go? Sorry I took a while. Bimbos in the bathroom," Tina asked him a few minutes later. Artie, who was still quite shocked, could only nod.

They started walking homeward.

"Artie? Hell-ooo! Earth to Artie! Are you there? What's up with you?" she called out, playfully knocking on his head.

"Ouch! Jeez, Tina, cut that out!" Artie swatted her hand away and rubbed his temple.

"Good to have you back," she said to him.

"Yeah, sorry, was just thinking about stuff again,"

"Let me guess, this week's homework and the Big Bang theory?"

"You could say that."

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**Quite a long chapter there, that's a treat for you guys :)**

**I say, nothing beats motherly love! Woohoo!**

**Anyways, please review! Anyone who does gets a cyber hug! Haha :P**


	11. Evanescent

_Thank you all for your lovely reviews! And from now on, I shall make it a habit to always reply to them! I love you all! Here's Chapter Ten! :D_

_PS: I honestly think that they overreacted a bit in this chapter, and I'm REALLY sorry for that. But it was the only way I can get my point across._

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**Chapter Ten**

Artie heaved a huge breath. "You ready?"

Tina imitated him. "As ready as I'll ever be."

And with a silent count to three, they stepped inside the halls of McKinley High. It was Monday already and after so much drama over the weekend, they finally had to try to go back and resume with their normal lives.

As they arrived at Tina's locker, Kurt and Mercedes immediately bombarded them.

"Oh my gosh! TINA!" And they both tackled her into a vicious hug, causing Tina to drop her books.

"Ouch!" Artie groaned and rubbed his forehead, having been hit by the heavy Chemistry book. Tina broke out from the hug and went to Artie, apologizing furiously.

"Artie, I am really sorry,"

Artie chuckled. "Figures. I hate Chemistry." That got a laugh out of Tina.

"I beg your pardon, but it's a nice subject!" she countered.

"Puh-lease, everyone knows that Physics cannot be beaten!"

"But Chemistry's a lot more interesting! I love the periodic table of elements!"

"In Physics, you get to learn how much force to apply when pushing a 25 ton crate in Jupiter!"

"As if you can really use _that_!" she retorted.

"Oh, save the flirt-fight-fest for later! Tell us what happened!" Mercedes cut them off.

"Well, um," Tina began, not quite sure how to tell her story, "I'll just spare you all the gory details and get on with the part where my parents disowned me and now I'm living in Artie's house." She began to talk in a rush, noticing full well the faint ache in her heart as she said so. Even though she's not very fond of her parents, it was still very hard to take in that they would go as far as to disown her. That was degrading in so many levels.

Kurt and Mercedes shot her a look of pity. Oh how she repulsed that look.

"I have to go," she said suddenly, grabbing her books, and practically flying away from the three confused faces.

"Did we do something wrong?" Kurt asked.

"No," Artie explained, "but I understand how she feels. I better go talk to her,"

He rolled away and went down the hall where she went, desperately searching for the familiar raven-haired girl.

Having no luck after ten minutes, he began to roll to first period; his body in the room, his mind far, far away from it.

It wasn't until lunchtime that he spotted her again. She was eating her lunch, alone on a table.

"Hi, Tee," Artie greeted as he approached her. She only gave a nod.

When he settled his lunch down next to her, Tina faced him and looked him in the eyes as if she were staring straight to his soul.

"So is this what it feels like?" Tina asked him cautiously. She knew very well that this was a sensitive topic for him. He was confused at first, but then he began to know what she meant.

"It's degrading, isn't it? It doesn't really make you feel any better, them pity looks," he replied truthfully.

"And you've endured them for the past eight years?"

"You get use to it after a while," he shrugged. She smiled.

"I've said it once, and I'll say it again: I really admire you, Artie," she said, causing his cheeks to go light pink. He laughed nervously then bit his apple.

"So it's really hopeless?" she asked him, still cautious, but curious all the same.

He began to feel uneasy, and just gave a curt nod. He didn't really like discussing this topic with anyone. Not even Tina. But to his dismay, she kept pressing.

"What's it like to give up something that's been a big part of your life?" she asked.

Artie tried to avoid her gaze, which was now creeping its way into his internal anatomy. "You mean the ability to walk?"

"Not just that," she said, a bit of a glimmer in her eye, "I know for a fact that you were a dancer before the accident."

Now Artie was very uncomfortable. He now even felt angry. "That was supposed to be private,"

"But I saw it while I was searching for my phone the other night. There, in a piece of paper, inside one of your dressers, were the words: _Congratulations to: **Arthur Abrams **for winning the annual Arizona state dance competition, 2nd place_." she eyed him, raising an eyebrow.

"I was aiming for first place. The accident happened while I was on my way to the competition," he felt tears coming to his eyes.

"That must have been really hard—"

"Hell yeah, it was!" he spat angrily at her, "My legs are never gonna work again and you know that!"

"Artie, I didn't mean to—"

"Save it. This is like _Stuttergate _all over again,"

"I'm really sorry,"

"Me too, I just... You're looking at the boy with the chair again. Not Artie Abrams, just a regular guy."

Tina's eyes started to glisten as Artie looked at her with a horrid expression on his face.

"And I really thought you understood me. But I was wrong. _Again_." And just like that, he left.

Tina couldn't believe what just happened.

This couldn't be happening. She couldn't be losing her best friend once again. She needed him.

-O-

For the rest of the day, she felt like an empty shell. And after school, the jocks had trapped her again and she didn't even retort to their actions.

Cold, dripping purple slushie was dumped on her head as she was thrown into the dumpster. The lid was too heavy for her to carry, and she didn't even make an attempt to move or anything to get out.

She completely deserved this. She'd done nothing but be a bad person to her parents and to her best friend. She faintly heard the sound of Karovski's victorious yells and they walked away. And then, total silence.

"Tina?" _Oh, he just keeps coming back, doesn't he?_

"Why are you always there to see me at my worst?" she groaned from inside the dumpster, the smell infuriating her, but she ignored it nonetheless.

"Let me get you out of there. I can lift the lid using my super upper arm strength," he offered.

"You can't even reach it from your chair. Besides, I know that deep inside you, you're jumping for joy that they've done this to me. So just leave me alone,"

"You know I'd never do that,"

"Go away. This way we're even. You're hurt and I'm hurt. Touché?"

"I will not accept the 'touché' excuse here!" he yelled.

"Just go away and at least give me some peace!" she yelled back, sobs starting to come out of her lips.

"Fine," Artie said and rolled away.

_Yeah, someone obviously cares,_ Tina thought sarcastically. You see what angst can do to you? It was making Tina desperate and pathetic. _Well, since Artie doesn't care, I won't either!_

Even though she knew full well that it would be impossible for her not to care for him, she still tried to convince herself. _I do not care for Artie, I do not care for Artie... _she repeated in her head, a mantra, hoping that if she kept repeating it, it would come true.

"He doesn't care," Tina muttered quietly and continued with crying. She wished she could be in this dumpster forever, die in there and have her bones buried in the toxic landfill. _Ugh! I feel so stupid!_

But a few minutes later, she heard a voice.

"Hello? Is someone in this dumpster?" the owner of the voice lifted the lid and Tina could see Finn's tall figure staring at her.

"Oh thank you, Finn!" Okay, so maybe she didn't _really_ want to die in there.

Finn grabbed her by the arms and lifted her out of the offending metal, then set her to the ground.

"Oh my god, the smell!" Tina said in relief, causing Finn to laugh. "What's so funny?"

"Nothing," he said, smiling, "Its just that Artie said the exact same thing when I saved him from being locked in the port-a-potty way back when there was just six of us,"

Upon hearing his name, Tina's positive expression faltered.

"Oh, _him_. Some friend he is,"

"Yeah," she heard Finn say, "He told me to come get you from the dumpster about fifteen minutes ago. I had to run a little late since there was a little problem in the locker room,"

Tina's confused face grew even more confused. So did that mean that Artie cared? Then that means she owed him a huge apology!

"Oh, thanks, Finn, but I gotta go now. But... I kinda don't have a ride..." Tina contemplated walking, but it would still be too far.

"No worries. I can give you a ride," Finn said.

"Thanks again," she said brightly as they walked to his car.

A few minutes later, they pulled up at the Abrams' household.

"Thanks again, Finn. See ya' around!" Tina waved to him as she got out and closed the door. Finn waved back with a friendly smile before disappearing down the street in his white pick-up truck.

When Tina got inside, she saw Artie in the living room, holding something in between his fingers. He was staring at it with the most solemn expression she'd ever seen him wear. She got a closer look by stepping a few steps forward and almost immediately an unbearable wave of nostalgia hit her.

It was a silver ring.

_A girl at the mere age of five sat down under a tree, looking very depressed and on the verge of tears._

_"I hate those bullies... I hate them, I hate them, I hate them!" she chanted, plucking vigorously at the green grass below her._

_"I hate them, too," a boy about her age appeared at her side and looked at her earnestly. "They called me a nerd, and said that no girl would like me,"_

_"They called me ugly, and that no guy would want to be my husband," she said to him._

_"I'm Artie. You are?"_

_"Tina. Nice to meet you," she smiled at him and they shook hands._

_"By the way, you're not ugly. And I bet lots of guys would want to be your husband someday," he said, a little blush appearing on his cheeks._

_"I think nerds are way cuter than them bullies. At least you can prove that you still look good in glasses," she admitted, also a blush creeping to her cheeks._

_He laughed. "Thanks. So was that why you're sad?"_

_"Well, not anymore," she said, smiling up at him._

_"Here," the boy shoved his hand in his pocket, "I got this from my mom's jewelry box." He brought out a nice silver ring._

_"Won't she notice it's gone?"_

_"Nah, she has lots of these anyways," she giggled at him._

_He bent down on his knee in front of her. "To prove them bullies wrong, I'm doing this," he smiled._

_"What _are_ you doing?" she asked, tilting her head to the side._

_"I dunno, I just see this stuff in movies that my aunt watches when she's had a bad break up," he said with a shrug. "So, Tina? Will you marry me?" He smiled hopefully at her._

_She nodded. "Of course, Artie." She smiled wide and giggled as he took her hand and slipped the ring on her finger. It looked a few inches too big for her, but she loved it anyways. She then looked up at him. "So what happens now?"_

_"Um... let me see," he looked up as if he were thinking, "Oh! Yeah, now you have to kiss me and say you love me," he smiled._

_Of course, as kids, the girl leaned in to plant a sweet kiss on his lips and she giggled some more. "I love you," she said as if she were dictating it as a mantra, causing both of them to laugh._

_"I really can't wait to see you tomorrow," he told her._

_"Oh, sorry, we'll be moving to a place called Ohio tonight," she sighed sadly._

_"Oh." Was all he could say. She was leaving._

_"Don't be so sad," she encouraged him, "I'm sure we'll meet again someday!"_

_The boy nodded vigorously. "Yeah! And when that happens, we'll be the best of friends! And we'll dance together, and I'll take you to the movies..." he began to wander off._

_"Aww! No one's ever danced with me before,"_

_"And I dunno how... But I'll learn to dance just for you!"_

_"Okay! Don't miss me too much. My mom's here," _

_"Okay, just promise me one thing,"_

_"What?"_

_"We _will _get married someday," a smile played on his lips and she kissed him once more._

_"Don't worry, Nerd Boy!" she laughed and walked away._

_He really thought that was the last time he'd see her, the girl he just supposedly proposed to._

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_Thank you for reading and please review this chapter! :))


	12. Insentient

**This is more like a filler than anything. But I promise you that next chapter would be great! Enjoy!**

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**Chapter Eleven**

Tina snatched the ring away from him.

"This ring was in my underwear drawer! _What the heck_ were you doing in my underwear drawer?" she inquired.

"NO! It's not like that!" Artie said, blushing, "I was kinda... mad at you so I slammed the door and the sound shocked me, I bumped at the drawers, one of them opened and I saw something shiny so I took it,"

Tina shoved the ring in her jacket pocket and stared at him in shock.

"Does this ring look familiar to you?"

Artie stared back, blushed harder, and said in a very soft voice, "I proposed to you,"

Tina averted his gaze. "Yeah, and I said yes,"

They kept their gazes at anywhere but each other. But when their eyes met for a split second, they laughed.

"Well would ya look at that?" she mocked, "Nerd Boy's gettin' married!"

"I can't believe it either!" he said in between more laughs.

"I always was a weird kid," she reminisced, "Like that one time this guy hit my neck with his elbow and I said I couldn't breathe? There were loads of nurses and doctors all around!"

They laughed some more before falling into a deep, awkward silence.

"So..." Artie said, "Does this mean you're my fiancé now?" he joked.

"I don't know... do you want me to be?" she muttered shyly.

"I wouldn't mind," he smiled softly.

"And to think, I came barging in here to make peace with you,"

"Well then consider that ring as a peace offering,"

"But that ring has a different purpose already!"

"Wait, so you _really_ want to marry me?"

"I wouldn't mind," she said, repeating his words.

"Hey! I know I have witty remarks, but you could at least try and be original!"

She giggled. "But I _am_ original! Original at repeating someone else's words!"

"That doesn't even make any sense!"

"It doesn't have to, _honey_," she teased and laughed.

"Don't I at least get a kiss?" he said in the same mocking voice and pouted.

She pursed her lips and leaned in. When her lips were an inch away from his, she grabbed a pillow and smacked the side of his head.

"Hey! That was completely unfair!"

"Consider_ that_ a peace offering," she said, a devious smile on her face.

"You know what? I will. You're forgiven,"

"So are you. Now let's hug it out," she spread her arms but Artie crinkled his nose and leaned away.

"Ew, Tee. You smell like trash. And you have slushie all over you,"

"Which will make this hug thing much more funtertaining," she smiled and wrapped her arms around the scrawny boy.

"Ugh, I can't believe I proposed to you," he said in mock disgust.

She laughed then went off to take a much-needed bath. Artie stared at his shirt, which now reeked of what smelled like a mixture of rotten eggs and cat poop. He sighed and went off to change his shirt.

That night, the pair was watching TV in the living room, eating microwave popcorn. Both were bored out of their wits. Then they heard some droplets on the roof, and the smell of rain engulfed them in their silence. Tina immediately stood up, opened the door, and went outside.

"Tina?" a confused Artie asked, waiting by the doorframe and stared as his best friend twirled around, arms outstretched in the hard rain.

"Artie! It's raining!" she said in awe at him. "Come here!"

"Tina, you're gonna be sick!"

"No I won't! I've been doing this since I was five years old! Come on!"

Artie rolled out of the house and onto the street beside her. He stared at her in amazement, her eyes closed, arms flailing, head tilted to the sky. The rain blurred Artie's glasses and he reached a hand up to wipe at them unsuccessfully.

"I love the rain," she said suddenly, "Since I was five, whenever my parents would get into a fight, I'd run outside into the rain. And if it didn't rain, I'd get in the bathroom and take a shower fully clothed to pretend it was rain. Something about falling water gives me peace. It enlightens me, gives me hope that I could also wash out those desperate feelings away," she smiled at him. He smiled back. "Also," she continued, "no one can deny that it's very romantic. I've always wanted to be kissed in the rain," she sighed dreamily.

"So is this why you dragged me here?" he joked, "You know, if you wanted to kiss me so badly, you could've just asked,"

Tina smacked his head playfully. "Oh shut up. You're killing my mood,"

Artie childishly stuck his tongue out at her.

"Can't I just share this special moment with my supposedly fiancé in silence?" she said.

"Nope, you can't," he smiled mischievously.

Tina eyed him in slight confusion.

"'Cause I'm gonna do _this_!" he said and tackled her waist, tickling her mercilessly, sending her into a wild fit of laughs and giggles.

"Ahh! That's not fair!" she pried his hands away from her and ran down the street. He wheeled even faster, praying silently that there would be nothing on the ground that can get stuck on his wheels.

"You gotta go faster than that if you expect to escape from me!" He called out through the rain. And, like he predicted, she ran even faster.

"You'll never catch me, Four Eyes!" she teased.

"For your information, I can see fine with or without glasses!" he yelled back, even though he knew full well that his glasses were his life.

"Whatever you say, Nerd—WHOAA!" she slipped on some mud and fell on her back. Artie immediately rushed to her aid. She lay limp on the ground, eyes closed, not moving at all.

"Tina?" he asked worriedly, "Tina, are you awake? Please wake up! Please don't make me drag you back to the house in all this rain! I'm gonna get sick!"

Tina got up and eyed him with a raised eyebrow. "Wow, Abrams. I lie down unconscious on the ground and you still think about yourself. You are absolutely the most egotistical jerk to walk on this planet,"

"Eh, as important as you are, everybody knows that Mother Earth can't have Artie Abrams sick. What would she do without me?" he mocked her. Truth was, he knew she was pretending. Something he noticed while she was unconscious was that her mouth was slightly open. When she pretended, she clamped it shut.

"Haha, very funny. But now I'm covered in mud!" she stood up and slipped a little, but managed to regain her balance by holding on to one of Artie's chair's arm rests.

"Let's go home," he told her as they made their way back to his house. This was surely one rainy encounter that Tina would never forget.

A little after they cleaned up, the landline rang. Artie rolled over to answer it.

"Abrams' household... Oh, hey mom... Okay... Sure, I understand... Yeah, we'll be fine... Great... Love you too, mom. Bye."

"What did she say?" Tina asked.

"It was mom. She said she won't be coming home tonight. Something came up with grandma and she's flying over to England right now. She'll be gone for a month,"

"A month?"

"Yeah, most probably. Grandma got a serious case of Leukemia and, as grandma's favorite daughter, my mom has to be there to comfort her. She only has a month to live,"

"Oh... that's pretty bad..."

"Well she's 89, she's lived it," he shrugged.

"But why didn't Jill stop by to pack her stuff?"

"She already did. She was in such a hurry that she forgot to tell us. By the time she remembered, we were already in school."

"So... a month?"

"Yeah, but dad'll be coming back this Saturday,"

"Oh..."

"But he'll be flying to Washington again on Tuesday,"

"So he's not always here?"

"He's rarely here. Ever since I was a kid and we never really got time to bond with him. He's a nice man, though, I'm sure he'll like you,"

"Boy, I wish my parents were like yours, Artie," she stared into his eyes and smiled.

"My parents are actually kinda your parents now. I heard them talking on the phone about adopting you yesterday,"

"A-a-adopt?"

"Yeah, well, if you'd like, of course,"

"It's just a lot to take in..." she combed her fingers through her hair in frustration, "Truth is, I guess I still hadn't given up on the hope that one day, they would come back for me," her eyes glistened and she averted her gaze to the floor.

Artie suddenly remembered Tina's mom, who had spoken to him not too long ago. He wanted to tell Tina that maybe they would, but he couldn't. He promised.

"You think they'll come back for you?"

She shrugged. "They were mean people, but they're still my parents. I could never hate them," she sighed. "Oh who am I kidding? My parents would never come back for me! If you'd just seen my dad's face when he told me that I wasn't his daughter anymore. It was agonizing," and she had cried freely, her tears dropping on the hard wood floor.

Artie crumbled at the sight. He hated seeing her cry, which was why he did everything he could to make sure that she was happy. Her crying made him want to cry too. Her pain was his pain. Her grief was his grief. It was all mutual. And she could never believe how much he really cared for her.

"Shh, Tee, don't cry. I'm sure they still love you. And they _will_ come back for you. Don't worry," he wheeled himself to her to take her in his arms as she fisted his shirt and sobbed.

"I-I'm sorry, Artie, let's just go to sleep now," she sighed and smiled. She was not feeling quite better yet, but the matter cannot be discussed at this time. They just had a tiring and eventful day that left both of them exhausted.

"Okay, Tee, whatever you want," he smiled at her.

And they went inside their room and both fell into a silent and dreamless sleep.

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**Thank you for reading and I'm sorry for the short chapter. I tried adding the next part of the story to this chapter, but this just seemed like the perfect ending! **

**Anyways, as Ate Eda said, I'm on a roll so you might have noticed my updates every night for the past week. I have no idea how long I will stay like this, but I would appreciate it if you would read my new One Shots! Thank you!**

**Also, I made a blog for updates on Glee at (without the spaces) weeatsheetmusic .tumblr . com (get it? Like what Bryan Ryan said? Oh, forget it.) Please follow!**

**Oh, and lastly, DON'T FORGET TO REVIEW! :))**


	13. Queerish

**Thanks for all your lovely reviews in not only this story, but with my other stories too! I can't tell you how much I really appreciate it :) I hope you will continue to enjoy this story. This chapter is mainly fluff, a big break from all the angst we've had the past chapters. Enjoy!**

**WARNING: MY BOYISH SIDE SEEPING THROUGH HERE AND THERE IN THIS CHAPTER... BUT I'M NOT A LEZ!**

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**Chapter Twelve**

Artie woke up to a massive headache. It was throbbing so badly, he wanted to bang it on the wall multiple times. Opening his eyes seemed like a heavy chore. He groaned and noticed that there was something in his mouth.

_Gosh, I'm so pathetic, I ate a pencil in my sleep!_

"Hold still, Artie!" a voice rang out to meet his ears, "And don't talk. I'm taking your temperature."

Artie, still greatly confused, just continued to lie down there until about a minute later when the voice said it was okay. He slowly and groggily opened his eyes. It was dark outside.

"Tee? What time is it?" he asked, surprised by the hoarseness in his voice.

"It's four in the morning. I woke up to you coughing and talking in your sleep. That's one bad fever alright,"

"But how—"

"Don't talk too much. Apparently, the rain doesn't like you as much as it likes me," she shrugged.

Artie smiled at her. Who couldn't like Tina? She was just so... likeable. She smiled back.

"Guess both of us won't be in school today," she continued. When Artie shot her a confused look, "I can't leave you here all by yourself with—" she looked at the thermometer in her hand, "—this kind of high fever!" Artie raised an eyebrow at her. "Okay, fine. I'm looking for an excuse to stay away from school. Happy now? You know me too well," she muttered, climbing off the bed and cleaning the thermometer before putting it back in its case.

Artie sneezed, the force causing his head to bob vigorously and he groaned at the worsened headache.

"Guess I better get my sleep now if I'm gonna go to school later. Night, Art," Tina said and climbed back in her sleeping place. Artie caught her wrist, causing her to look at him in shock.

"No, Tee, I _need_ you," he forced himself to say, pleading her with his eyes. Tina smiled.

"Well, be a sweetie and take these medicine tablets," she unfolded her wrist to reveal three tablets in different sizes. Artie wasn't sure what kind of medicine they were because of the dim light, but he trusted Tina enough to know that she would never poison him. He took the tablets and was handed a glass of water, which he downed in one swig. He felt some relief as the clogging in his nose eased a bit and his throat was replenished.

Tina took the glass and settled it on the bedside drawer.

"Sleep now, Artie," she told him and turned off the light from the lamp.

Tina was awakened once again by the sound of Artie's coughing. The clock said that it was 7:30am. The sun was shining outside, but not bright enough to hurt her eyes. She saw Artie's jerking body and sat up to rub his back comfortingly. Artie groaned and opened his eyes.

"Gosh, this head ache's a lot worse than before!" he grabbed his forehead and massaged his temples, attempting to ease the pain.

"Easy now," she brushed some of his hair out from his eyes, "I'm gonna make some chicken noodle soup," she stood up and walked out of the room.

About a few minutes later, she came back in the room with a bowl of hot soup, water, and some more medicine on a tray balanced on her arms. She settled the tray on the floor and grabbed the bowl of soup, a spoon, then preceded to feed him. Artie smiled at the sweet gesture. He sat up slowly, the whole room swaying in the process, but he managed.

"Great, now eat," she commanded with a smile and a slight giggle. He opened his mouth obligingly.

A few minutes later of him eating soup, Artie spoke.

"Tee," his voice was still a bit hoarse but he ignored it anyway, "when you told me earlier that I sleep talk... err, what was I saying?"

Tina laughed suddenly and sighed. "Oh nothing, Artie. You were just yelling at me not to throw the banana at you,"

"What? I did not say that!"

"Oh but you did!" she stuck her tongue out at him and laughed some more.

When she scooped up the last of the soup, she brought the spoon to her mouth instead of his. Artie scowled.

"What? I'm hungry!" she excused herself for some breakfast.

Artie took her brief absence as a chance to think in the silence. It was then that he noticed the thick blankets wrapped around his body. He briefly remembered zoning in and out of sleep, shivering wildly. Oh he definitely owed Tina after this one. He sneezed again and reached down for the water and medicine. When he was done, he sighed again at the gradual waning of his headache and the gradual clearing of his stuffy nose. Tina came back at that moment, but only to grab some clothes so she can take a shower.

Artie definitely appreciated everything Tina's been doing for him. He felt really sick and disgusting, but inside he was feeling fuzzy and fine as long as Tina was there.

When she came out of the bathroom, she looked at him. "Alright, wheelchair boy, it's time to get up. Can you transfer yourself to your chair?"

"I-I'll try," he cleared his throat to try to get rid of the hoarseness, not that it worked anyway.

He hauled his body off the bed and into his chair, which had been brought to a more convenient spot by Tina. He felt the room spinning again and he just wanted to get back to bed and sleep, but he managed to do as he was asked and was pushed to the living room.

He lied down on the sofa, his legs on Tina's lap as she sat down to watch TV. She started flicking through channels until she found one the suited her and she leaned forward in anticipation on the screen.

Artie wanted to laugh (but he couldn't due to his voice) at her choice of entertainment. "The NBA playoffs? Seriously, Tee, can you get any more boyish?"

"Hey! My cousin Andy spent his vacation with us last summer so what do you expect he'd watch? _Barbie and the Island Princess_?"

"I wouldn't be surprised if he does watch that show,"

"Oh you do not want to mess with him, Artie. He's already made my life a living hell. I appreciate the NBA, though, don't you?"

"Not really. I never get to watch it. But since the team's so famous, I'm rooting for Lakers," he shrugged. Tina's jaw dropped.

"You're a Laker fan just because they're famous? Puh-lease! The Celtics can take them any day!" she retorted.

"Then how come I heard that the Lakers won last year?"

"That's cause the Celtics lost three of its most valuable players! But they're gonna win this time!" she smiled at the TV.

Artie sighed in defeat, knowing how stubborn she was. "So who's playing right now?"

"The L.A. Lakers vs. the Phoenix Suns,"

"Who's gonna go on the next game?"

"Well, right now, the series is Lakers 3-2, meaning Lakers has 3 wins and Suns has 2. Whoever reaches 4 first will go on to fight the next team. So if Lakers win this game, they go ahead to beat the Celtics in the finals, since the Celtics had beaten the Magics by 4-2. If the Suns win, they will have another game. Now shut up, I want Lakers to win this match so the Celtics can kick their butts!" she smiled and once again leaned forward in anticipation.

Artie rolled his eyes at his best friend. It was so weird how they can just randomly have emotional sex changes and just be cool about it. He didn't really understand a word Tina said, anyway.

As the game went on, Tina yelled and pounded her fists in the air, screaming words as if the players on TV could hear her. The game ended with the score being 111-103 in favor of Lakers.

"And the Lakers win! Whoop!" Tina started doing what looked like a happy dance, as if doing the cabbage patch up in the air instead of in front of her. Artie shot her a weird look and she blushed. "I can't wait to see you guys lose to the Celtics!"

"Why do you hate them so much?" he asked her, curious as to how far her basketball knowledge would go.

She shrugged. "I dunno, I just hate the fact that they're so famous, people only take note of them in the NBA and they tend to overshadow the other teams. It's all just Kobe Bryant this, Kobe Bryant that... There are other great players out there! Like Kevin Garnett from the Boston Celtics. He's as old as my dad but he's got _game_! And Steve Nash from the Phoenix Suns. He proved that you don't have to be tall to be a good basketball player. And the bench boy, Robinson, from the Celtics—he was just a bench boy! But when he got in the game, he got the Celtics to lead over the Magics by twenty points! And let's not even forget Lebron James from the Cleveland Cavaliers. Oh, Andy was such a big fan of him! Too bad they got crushed by the Celtics, a proud moment of my life. And—"

"Okay, Tee, I have no idea what you're saying now," he cut her off and she blushed again.

"Sorry, sometimes I get carried away. I'm like this with boxing, too. Manny Pacquiao has a mean right hook!" she said and swung her right fist, almost hitting a vase in the process, "And Mayweather's got a small—"

"Again, I'm gonna stop you right _there_," Artie cut her off, laughing at what Tina was about to say. She blushed even harder.

"Oh stop it! You act exactly like this during _MythBusters!_"

"Tee, it's _MythBusters_. It's mainly educational,"

She hit him with a pillow. "Yeah, keep telling yourself that and I might make your head ache even worse,"

Artie shut up, stifling a few laughs.

For the rest of the day, they just sat in front of the TV, laughing at some of the shows and some good old memories. They ate a good lunch and Artie was feeling a little bit better by every passing minute. And by nighttime, he began to feel a lot better. He still had slight dizziness and his voice wasn't back to normal yet, but he wasn't burning as hot as he did earlier. He also wasn't shivering as much.

When Tina was preparing Artie's bed for him to jump back in, he surprised her by grabbing her waist from the back, pulling her onto his lap and giving her a kiss on the cheek, his lips lingering for a bit. Tina's face went fire truck red.

"Wh-what was that for?"

"That was a thank you," he said rather confidently, his breathing hot on her ear. She nodded.

"Y-you're welcome," she smiled, gave him a brief hug before standing up to proceed with what she was doing, her mind swimming with deep—and some erotic—thoughts. She smiled as she repeated the events of this day and was given a good night sleep without interruption.

The dreams came back, but in her dream, she was throwing a banana at Artie.

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_**Haha, thanks for reading and I hope I didn't weird you out too much with the NBA thing. **

**Thanks again and please leave a review! :D**


	14. Forfeiture

_Thank you for all your lovely responses! And now, without further ado, I present to you Chapter Thirteen!_

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**Chapter Thirteen**

"Have fun at school, Tee," Artie said, waving at her as she was grabbing her backpack. Tina turned around to glare at him.

"You evil, _evil_ little rat," she told him. He just chuckled.

"Yeah, but you love me for it," he retorted.

She continued to glare at him. "I hate you,"

"For being sick? Tee, it's not my fault that the rain doesn't like me as much as it likes you,"

She sighed. "You know it's gonna suck without you at school, right?"

"Without a doubt," he beamed up at her, "Now get moving or you're gonna be late!"

"Thanks, _mother_," she told him, rolled her eyes, and ran out the door.

The bus ride to school was uneventful without Artie. The fact that he had somehow convinced her that she didn't have to stay with him anymore because he was well enough infuriated her. Yet she gave in. When she got off the bus, she went straight to her two other friends, Kurt and Mercedes.

"Hey, guys," she greeted them with a smile.

"Hey," they greeted back.

"Why weren't you at school yesterday?" was Mercedes's first question.

"I had to take care of Artie. He was sick," the sentence rolled off easily on her tongue. Saying it made the butterflies come barging in her stomach.

"So where is he?" Kurt asked.

"Still sick. But he forced me to go here for our homework," she smiled and shrugged, "So I'm gonna be a bit of a loner today,"

"You can come shopping with us!" the two said at the same time. Tina cringed at the thought of shopping with two crazed shopaholics.

"No, thank you. I should probably check on Artie as soon as school's over,"

"Aww, that's okay," Mercedes, patting her shoulder, said. "You can eat at our lunch table if you'd like,"

"Sounds great," she smiled gratefully at the pair and walked off to class.

During Math class, Tina could hardly keep her eyes open. As Mrs. McCall blabbed on and on, her head was leaning on her hand, feeling like she could doze off at any minute. She tried to keep awake, but Math has powers that can make you drop faster than any anesthetic can. _Why won't they just use Math at hospitals? It costs a lot less... Society's going weirder and weirder by the minute... Dear Math, please learn to solve your own problems. Thanks._

She felt something bump at the back of her head and as she was about to confront which jock threw a spitball at her, she found a crumpled piece of paper on her chair by her side. She looked around, confused, and then opened the paper.

_Asian, Where's Wheels? -Other Asian_

Tina looked back and saw Mike Chang sitting two rows behind her. When she shot him another confused look, he shrugged. She turned back to the paper and wrote a reply.

_He's sick. Why? _

She tossed the paper back to him and went back to her normal sitting position, now feeling more awake than before. About a minute later, the paper was thrown back at her.

_Nothing, just curious. Last time you two were incomplete, some big drama shit happened. Kurt and Mercedes told us. You ok?_

A smile broke on her face upon reading the note. It was very typical of the two fashionistas to spread the gossip of how all hell broke lose for Tina.

_I'm good now. Thanks to 'Wheels'. _She decided to change the subject._ Do you actually understand all this crap?_

Less than a minute later, the paper was tossed back to Tina.

_Not really. I'm bored out of my wits. Everytime I try to listen, all I could see are Mrs. McCall's corn-like teeth._

Tina burst into silent giggles and looked up to the woman blabbing on, her yellow-ish teeth glimmering from the fluorescent lights.

_Haha, you're right. I really hate Math._

_We all do,_ he replied.

_Artie doesn't._

_Hey, speaking of which, did he propose to you or something? I mean, what's with the ring on your finger?_

Tina's face cracked into a smile as she glanced down at the silver ring on her ring finger. She hadn't taken it off ever since she found out who gave it to her. She laughed silently as she thought of a way to explain it to Mike.

_Well, you could say that. It's kind of a long story._

Mike glanced up at the clock. Twenty minutes left until the class ends.

_I've got time._

She sighed and began to write. _It was kind of a pre-school thing. We were kids, y'know? We were both bullied and he got down on one knee and proposed with his mother's ring. Of course, we didn't know what that meant at the time, but I said yes and stuff. I moved away that night and we met again in middle school. By then, he was already in the wheelchair._

_Ahh, I see. So how does it feel to be future Mrs. Abrams?_

Tina blushed. Mrs. Tina Abrams does have a ring to it. She felt like a giddy elementary girl, saying her first name with his last name and all...

_Mike, we were kids. _

_Ah, but you wear the ring, don't you? It means something, doesn't it?_

_It's just a joke, really. We laughed about it and moved on._

_You guys are confusing me. I don't know why you're not an item yet. You sure act like it._

_Yeah, we're best friends. But that's all there is to it._

_Is it, Tina? Is it really?_

_Okay, okay! You got me! I like him._

_You like who?_

_Artie._

_Who's Artie? _

_I LIKE ARTIE ABRAMS! There, happy?_

_Very._

The bell rang before she could reply. She stood up and glanced at Mike, who was smirking proudly at her. She resisted the urge to smack his head and just rolled her eyes. She walked over to him and put on a fierce look.

"You better not tell him or, I _swear_, I will chop off your balls in your sleep," she threatened. He leaned away from her in fear.

"Your secret's safe with me!" he said, smiling wide and running almost immediately out of the room.

Tina smiled as she reminisced her middle school bullying days. _Yep, I still got it._

At lunchtime, as planned, Tina ate with Kurt and Mercedes. They were also with Quinn, who recently got kicked off the Cheerios for being pregnant, and Finn, who was her boyfriend. The two were having a silent conversation and no one dared butt in.

"So, Tina how was your day?" Mercedes asked.

"Average. Could have been miserable if Mike hadn't passed me that note during Math class,"

"You were passing notes with _Mike_?" Kurt asked incredulously.

"Yes. Math has powers that can make you do that. And besides, Mike's not the ass that all the other football players are,"

"But what did he say?" Kurt said.

"He asked where Artie was. And that lead into a conversation about how boring Math class can be," she shrugged and took a bite of her grilled cheese sandwich.

Mercedes eyed her as she ate. "What's with the engagement ring?"

Tina blushed at the memory. "Pre-school Artie gave it to me," they looked at her knowingly, "We were kids!" she explained. They shrugged and went back to their business.

"By the way," she continued, "I might take up on your shopping offer this afternoon," she smiled.

At about seven-thirty in the evening, Artie looked up from the book he was reading when he heard a knock at the door. He rolled over and opened it, only to have his jaw drop and his eyes to bulge out of their sockets in shock. There, stood in his doorway, was a very disgruntled Tina Cohen-Chang. Her hair was drenched and messy, her clothes just as wet, make up smeared all over her face, and she was shivering to no end. But on her hands was a big box of what looked like pizza.

"Hey, Artie. I brought pizza," she said apathetically and smiled.

"Wow. Is not being with me at school _this_ bad?"

She rolled her eyes, still shivering. "But I brought you cheese and garlic pizza! I know it's your favorite," she smiled sheepishly.

Artie huffed mockingly. "Very well, come in."

Tina collapsed on the sofa, but then sat up so she wouldn't drench the sofa as well. Artie draped a warm blanket over her shoulders and put his arms around her to expel some body heat. Her shivering gradually faded, but her heartbeat was not as lucky.

"What happened to you?" he asked.

She sighed. "I went shopping with Kurt and Mercedes,"

"You WHAT?" he exclaimed and laughed.

"It's! Not! Funny! I'm still a girl with shopping needs!" she defended.

"Yeah, but you're not like most girls. Why the hell would you go shopping with _them_ of all people?"

"Well, I wanted to bring home your favorite pizza and they were going to the mall and Mercedes has a car so I asked if I could join,"

"And how did you wind up like this?"

"I told them I would just buy a box of pizza and then take a cab home, but they _insisted_ that I stay with them for the rest of the trip,"

"And?"

"It was the worst three and a half hours of my life," she sighed for dramatic effect, "I tried to convince them that I wanted to go home, but they wouldn't let me. So what I did was I ran away from them while there were lots of people and at that exact moment, some kid spilled his juice on the floor and I slipped on it,"

"And then what happened?"

She blushed. "I fell in the fountain," she said softly.

"What? All I understood was gibberish,"

"I fell in the fountain, okay?" She said, much louder now. Artie threw his head back in laughter. Tina blushed harder. "So I walked in the pizza place to buy the damn pizza with lots of people staring at me and went here," she pouted in embarrassment.

Artie smiled and leaned in to kiss her cheek. "Thanks for the pizza," and he leaned back to open the box of warm pizza. Tina smiled dreamily at the realization that Artie had kissed her twice that week. It was suddenly worth shopping and being tumbled into a fountain to receive the heartwarming reward.

"Tee?" Artie called, bringing her out of her trance, "Hurry up or I'm gonna hog all of this,"

Tina shook her head. "Hah! In your dreams! You just happen to challenge the Pizza Monster, do you?"

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_**Thank you and please review! :)**


	15. Opulence

**Sorry that this chapter came out a bit late. I was just busy with my web show and sleep deprivation and such. But here's the new chapter! I'm sorry if it's not my best, but this is the part where the plot really thickens. I've already planned it out. This story will have 21 chapters and an epilogue. There will also be a plot twist that I'm sure you will love :)**

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**Chapter Fourteen**

_Night before Sectionals..._

Tina twisted and turned in her sleeping space, trying to find a spot comfortable enough so she can finally get some sleep, but her anxious nerves were keeping her from getting any shuteye. She groaned when she opened her eyes to see that it was nearing midnight. Artie was fast asleep on his bed, mouth open, snoring slightly. Tina took a moment to study his peaceful features for a while. She really had fallen for him. _Hard_. It was something that just wouldn't go away, not that she wanted it to go away. She sat up and ran her fingers lightly through his hair, reveling in its softness. She breathed in his pleasant smell and sighed. Artie's eyes opened.

"Tee? Is that you?" he asked groggily through the darkness, "Why are you so close to my face?"

Tina blushed and lay back down on her sleeping space. "I couldn't sleep,"

"Me neither," he replied.

"Really?"

"No, not really," even in the dark, Tina was sure he's smirking at the moment.

"Just shut up and continue your beauty sleep,"

"Um, did you just say I'm beautiful in my sleep?" he teased.

"No, I said beauty sleep. That's different,"

"No it's not. It means I'm beautiful in my sleep,"

"No, it means you _need_ beauty sleep," she was the one smirking now.

Artie frowned. "Damn, you're good!"

"That's just how stupidly smart I am," she smiled, "Now get some rest. We should be prepping up for tomorrow,"

"How about you? How will you go to sleep?"

"I'll drink lots of coffee, I guess. Don't worry about me, I've had all-nighters before,"

"Tee, you know I won't let you do that," he sat up and scooted to his side. He patted the empty space beside him, "Wanna talk? I'm fully awake now,"

Tina smiled at him. "Fine. But if we both look like zombies tomorrow, it's your fault," she climbed on his bed and sat beside him, both leaning their heads at the headboard.

"Artie?" she asked through the brief silence. Artie hummed in response, taking her hand in his and playing with her fingers. "What do you think will happen tomorrow?"

"I don't know, Tee," he admitted, "A few hours ago, I would've answered 'We'd totally kill it' but this time, I'm just not so sure,"

Tina laughed a little. "At least I'm not the only one,"

"How do you think we'll do without Finn?" he asked.

"Perhaps Puck could pull it off, but I'm really worried about Jacob messing up the choreography,"

"I'm sure he's a nice guy,"

"Are you serious? Didn't you hear what he did to Rachel? He blackmailed her in exchange for her panties, Art!"

"He did?" Artie asked, confused, "Then in that case, stay away from him," he told her firmly. She smiled and poked his arm.

"Are you getting protective with me?"

"Psh! No! It's just that I'd rather your panties be safe," Tina snorted, "NO! That didn't come out right! It was—"

"Jeez, Artie, it was just a joke," she continued to laugh.

"It wasn't funny,"

"It's an inside joke, Artie. You know? Like it's funny. On the inside," at that, they both laughed.

Artie then tickled her sides as she laughed mercilessly.

"St-stop! Artie! Stop!"

"Now _that's_ funny," he said, withdrawing his hands, only to bring them back to pinch her nose.

"No! Not the nose! Not the nose!" she said nasally. She hated it when people touched her nose, and she did a good job at defending it. Unfortunately, Artie was the only one who can penetrate those defenses. He let go of her nose and after coming back down from his laughing, his face turned into a serious expression as they regained their positions.

"What do you think will happen if we win?" he asked her.

"I'm hoping no more slushie facials, no more getting thrown in the dumpster, and no more vandalized yearbook pictures. But I really shouldn't set my expectations too high. It's only Sectionals and we're still a bunch of freaks," she said then yawned.

"I thought you said you weren't sleepy?" Artie asked as Tina laid her head on his shoulder. He smiled widely.

Tina hummed a little. "To be honest?" she mumbled, eyes half closed, "Your voice is like a lullaby," she buried her nose on his neck.

"I don't know whether to take that as a compliment or not," he remarked, making both of them laugh. "And when I told you I was fully awake?"

"Yeah?"

"I was lying," his smile turned to a smirk when Tina lifted her face from his shoulder.

"You evil brat! I told you to go back to sleep!" she hit him playfully on the arm.

"You just looked so horrifying that I thought you _had_ to sleep," he continued to mock.

"Keep talking and I'll doze of in two seconds,"

"Yes, ma'am!" Artie saluted and lied down on the bed. Tina set herself back to her sleeping foam. "Tina, wait," he said hesitantly, not sure how Tina would take his question.

"What?"

"Umm... do you want to, maybe, sleep here on my bed, you know? Just to get some sleep. I mean, who wants to sleep alone? And—"

"Shut up, Artie," she had already set herself on his bed and had fallen asleep, leaving an incredulous Artie gaping at her.

-O-

As it turns out, Sectionals didn't turn out the way they thought it would. Sue leaked the set list to their competitors and New Directions was forced into running out of songs to sing. Artie had taken it hard when the Jane Addams girls sang Proud Mary-his song. That song was dedicated to him. It was the one song where he really felt like he was a member of the club as much as everybody else and not just a scrawny nerd boy in a wheelchair. It was so meaningful, and yet they had taken it away in split seconds. He continued to ram his head at the wall, muttering angrily to himself.

Tina set a seat beside him and hesitantly put a hand on his shoulder.

"You want to talk?"

Artie shook his head and rammed his head through the wall once again.

"Okay," she continued, "but if you change your mind, I'll just be here,"

Artie then raised his head to look at her, face flushed and eyes desperate as he pleaded. "Don't go anywhere,"

Tina felt her eyes sting at his tone of voice. "I won't, I promise," she wrapped her arms around him in a hug as he just sat there, head-ramming completely forgotten.

"You know," she tried to lighten the mood, "knocking your head like that causes a few brain cells to die. Then you'd be dumb,"

Artie smiled a little. "Why do you care?"

"Cause if you're dumb, who's gonna do my Math homework?"

They laughed now. "You're so weird, Tee,"

"You always say that," she put her chin on his shoulder, looking up at him.

"Only because the occasion calls for it,"

"Artie, you can't let those Jane Addams girls get to you. You're so much better than them,"

"Tee, has anyone told you how much of a genius you are?" he smiled at her. It looked like she was about to reply, but it was then that Ms. Pillsbury announced that the intermission was over and they had to go back to the auditorium for the performance of the next group. Everyone shot a worried glance at each other and reluctantly followed Ms. Pillsbury out of the room, their footsteps heavy with mixed emotions.

-O-

"WE WON! HURRAY!" a chorus of cheers and yells erupted in the bus as the members of New Directions got in. They had won after all, and it was all thanks to Finn. The mood in the bus was very light. They continued to sing some of the songs they had sung before, but were all exhausted after about an hour. They were still two hours away from McKinley High as one by one, the glee clubbers dozed into silence.

Tina turned around to see her best friend Artie, who was desperately trying to sleep, but couldn't because he had nothing to lean his head on. He looked extremely bored that Tina couldn't help but laugh.

"Laugh all you want, Tee, but when we get home I'll—" he was cut off by a yawn breaking through his face, "I couldn't sleep," he admitted.

"Me neither," she said.

"Really?"

"No. Not really," she smiled at him and he pouted. "Wanna talk?"

"Do I have a choice?" he said as they immediately emerged into conversation. They talked continuously for a good half hour before they were cut off by Rachel's voice.

"Everyone, may I please have your attentive and undivided attention," she yelled loudly, waking up everyone in the bus. They all groaned at the annoying disturbance.

"Thank you," Rachel said, then started, "I'm throwing an after party tonight and you all have to be there or be square!" she said cheerily and sat back down. Everyone else just groaned in response and started phoning their assigned guardians, telling them they'd be home late tonight.

"What do you think Rachel's after party would be like?" Tina asked Artie.

"I don't know, but it's an after party nonetheless. Should be fun."

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**Any guesses to what big thing will happen in Rachel's after party? Here are some clues: There's a pool, there's a kid, there's a drunk glee club member. ;)**

**Thank you and don't forget to review! :D**


	16. Asphyxiation

**Quite a long chapter for you, guys. I sneaked this way past my bed time so I hope it's worth it! :)**

**Btw, I totally loved the season finale. Who knew Sue had a heart? I certainly did not! **

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**Chapter Fifteen**

The moment they arrived at the Berry's residence, the members of New Directions instantly knew that this was going to be one party they would never forget. Rachel had really outdone herself. The huge house seemed perfectly normal on the outside, but as soon as they got to see the interior, their jaws dropped. Everything was already prepared. There was a table full of food and drinks in the corner, and some furniture had been moved to form a dance floor. A stereo was in another corner attached to a giant speaker, and the streamers were countless. Anyway, I'm boring you with the description of the decorations now so let's just get on with it.

"So," Rachel said, turning on the stereo, "Let's get this party started!"

Everyone cheered as loud music began to play and some went to dance immediately. Brittany, Santana, Mike, and Matt were on the dance floor. Kurt was setting down the giant trophy in a corner, making sure no one comes to topple it down. Mercedes was hitting some notes with Finn and Rachel. Puck was helping himself to some alcohol. While Quinn, Tina, and Artie just sat at the sides, watching everyone and all the events unfold.

"Wonder how did Rachel get all these party stuff up in such short notice?" Tina mused. Quinn sighed.

"Well, knowing Rachel, I wouldn't be surprised if she planned this all ahead. After all, she is 'psychic'," Quinn said, air quoting the last word.

Artie looked confused for a second. "Wait, why are you even talking to us?" he looked up at Quinn, who just rolled her eyes and stomped away.

"Don't mind her," Tina told him, "She's just frustrated with the whole baby drama. She'll be fine in a few days..."

They heard Quinn's groan of agitation as she poured a glass of whatever Puck was drinking all over him.

"...Or a few weeks," she added.

"C'mon, let's go outside. I heard the Berrys have a lovely pool," Artie nodded toward the huge sliding door separating them from the outdoors. Tina obliged and pushed Artie's chair to the door, opening it, and being welcomed by the sweet cold air and total silence. A few feet away from them was a swimming pool that glistened in the moonlight. It looked cold and still, but the reflecting lights made it mellow and almost romantic.

Tina poked out a finger and leaned in to touch the pool.

"Oh, I wouldn't do that if I were you," TIna swivelled around to spot Rachel eyeing her, eyebrow raised.

"How come?" she asked.

Rachel smiled her big 'Rachel Smile'. "That pool's for official Berry use only. And the fact that my dads are out of town this week and they still don't trust me enough not to let anyone else in the pool (not that I would) is still a bit saddening. So basically, right now that pool is about sixty degrees or so,"

Tina and Artie looked at each other in shock. "Sixty degrees?"

Rachel shrugged. "To make sure no one else can go to the pool, my dads use a specialized thermostat. So dipping any part of you in there would probably freeze you to death so I suggest you both come back inside with the rest of us,"

"No need, Rach," said Artie, "We'll be fine out here. Just talking is all,"

"Suit yourself," Rachel walked over to grab a book from the ground, "I was looking for this," she said. "Enjoy, you guys!" she said cheerfully and walked off.

"Wow. Sixty degrees," Tina said in awe.

"That's not very far from freezing point," Artie replied.

"Yeah," Tina said with a scoff as she grabbed a nearby chair to settle herself next to Artie by the pool's side.

"We won Sectionals," Artie smiled, "It's all so surreal,"

"You always knew we'd totally kill it anyway," Tina replied, punching him playfully in the arm.

"But we did it even with the others cheating. It was tricky, but we did it. We won,"

"We're just that good," Tina smiled and carefully laid her head on his shoulder, looking up at the moon, admiring the romantic scene.

Artie smiled sheepishly and took Tina's hand in his. This time, he felt confident. He gathered up all the strength he could muster as he was going to tell her how he really feels.

"Tina, what do you think of love?" he asked, thoroughly inquisitive.

Tina raised her head in confusion, but laid it back on his shoulder when she saw his solemn expression.

"For real?" she sighed, "I don't know if I believe in it anymore," she said gravely. Artie was a bit taken aback.

"Why?" he was starting to rethink his plan.

"Look around me, Artie, just look around. My parents hate each other's guts, Quinn lied to her boyfriend, Finn punched Puck for the fault of fornicating his ex-girlfriend, Coach Sylvester betrayed her own school by giving our set list to our competitors, Quinn and I got disowned, I mean where's all the love in that?" by then she had been staring into his eyes, her own eyes tearing up.

Artie was stunned. For the first time in a long time, he had begun to feel her pain. He knew what she's going through. And he wanted to put a stop to her misery because it was making both of them miserable. So, he looked back into her eyes and took her chin in his hand.

"No, there is no love in that," he said in a soft voice, almost as if he were speaking to her soul, "But there is love in you, Tee. You know how to love. Only you can tell yourself what love feels like."

Tina didn't want to hold his gaze anymore. It was agonizing her, knowing that the only thing in her life that bore love was the one thing that she lied to and hated her for it. She shook her head.

"I don't know what love is anymore," she looked down, even with her chin being tilted to face Artie.

Artie wanted to cry at her words, feeling like he'd lost all hope of them being together. But he shouldn't give up now.

"Tee, look at me," he said desperately. When she shook her head, he lost it. "God damn it, Tina, look at me!"

Tina took in a sharp intake of breath and looked at him, stunned.

"Look at me, Tina, and tell me that you don't feel any love when you do,"

At that, she was even more stunned. Her mouth opened in shock and realization as his words slowly sunk in.

"Artie, I—"

"Tina, I've been wanting to tell you something," he said, exhaling for an extended period of time to relieve some stress from his nervousness.

"You don't have to talk, Artie," she said.

Their eyes met in a passionate stare as they both started to lean in to close the remaining distance between them. His breath mingled with hers and both let their eyes close as they waited for that feeling of warmth they had been looking for in a long time. Their lips brushed and TIna could already feel the sparks setting.

A loud shriek interrupted them as Mercedes came running in, looking heavily disgruntled. The two pulled away with a jolt, blushing heavily.

"I'm sorry, was I interrupting something?" Mercedes asked shyly.

"Yes, you were," Artie said coldly, giving Mercedes a hard stare.

"Sheesh, calm down, lover boy. You can tonsil hockey later. Right now I need Tina's help!" she grabbed Tina's arm and started pulling her away. Artie stared at her longingly as Tina quickly bent down to kiss him on the cheek with an apologetic look in her eyes. He looked like he wanted to say something, but Mercedes had pulled her back inside by then.

"Okay, M, what's up?" Tina asked, hands on her hips. She wasn't entirely pleased with being interrupted either.

"Rachel asked me to watch out for her cousin Christopher and that he should be in bed by nine," Mercedes then indicated to a young, adolescent boy that seemed to be fighting with Rachel in the most dramatic way possible. "It's ten o'clock and he refuses to go to sleep! Tina, you've always been good with kids, maybe you can help,"

Tina looked at Christopher, "I don't know... He seems pretty hard to handle. How old is he?"

"Thirteen,"

"Poor guy. Teenager and still has a bedtime,"

"Well normally he would love to be in bed by now, he says it 'gives his lingering fingers a chance to rest by departing briefly from the sterling piano keys so he could start anew the next day in his sophisticated life of music noted-journey' but now, he just wants to party,"

"So, in short, he's like a pianist version of Rachel?"

"Pretty much, yeah,"

"I'm out of here," TIna turned to walk away.

"Tina! Please! I beg of you!" Mercedes pleaded.

"Oh fine!" Tina gave in and approached the young boy.

"Tina! Thank goodness you're here!" Rachel sighed gratefully.

Christopher looked at Tina with a raised eyebrow.

"Hmm. Goth, eh? Could do with a little less vampire and more racy look. I suppose the blue highlights in your hair are supposed to accentuate the contrast given by your dark hair and eyes. Nice complexion, though. Do you use any particular moisturizer or type of loofah? Or is it natural in your Asian blood?"

Tina eyed him strangely then turned to look at Rachel. "Well, I see you Berrys as one big happy family!" she smiled widely.

Rachel rolled her eyes. "This little brat may be almost as good as I am in musical abilities, but he's a real pain in the butt. He infuriates me! Eurgh!" she groaned, tugging at her hair.

Christopher smiled a little. "Don't mind her. She's just threatened that I will become the new family favorite. Especially when I win the virtuoso show-offs at school next week,"

"I won Sectionals, Chrissy!" Rachel snapped.

"Puh-lease, Sectionals is a team effort. It takes a true Berry favorite to be able to pull it off solo,"

Rachel groaned again and looked at Tina. "You see what I mean? Help me out here!"

Tina, mostly amused by the banter in front of her, bent down a little to stoop on Christopher's height.

"Hey, Christopher,"

"It's Chris,"

"Hi Chris," she gave him the sweetest smile she could manage at the current situation, "Aren't you a little darling?"

"I'm thirteen,"

"Right," Tina bluffed, "So what are you doing still standing around here? This is obviously just another boring party consisting of people you don't know. Why don't you go back and get some beauty rest?"

"My beauty rest can be postponed for one night," Christopher smiled at her, "So, you come here often?"

Tina gasped and stood up. She went to look for Mercedes and Rachel, but they were both gone.

Christopher tapped her shoulder. "Want to dance? Y'know, not a lot of ladies get to tap this,"

"Wow, for a moment there you sounded like Puck," Tina said.

"That's a good thing, right?"

"Well, if you see him..." she looked around for Puck, hoping to find him by somewhere, but had no such luck. "That's strange. He's not here. I wonder..."

"Why? Is he your boyfriend?"

"Puck? Ew! No!" Tina said, arms flailing in front of her.

"Then I have a shot?" he asked hopefully.

"Don't hold your breath, Squirt,"

"Do you have a boyfriend?"

Tina suddenly felt uneasy at the question. "Yes, I-I mean no. I mean, it's not official. No! I meant we're not sleeping together! We're... What _are_ we?"

Christopher stared at her, wide-eyed.

"Sorry, I really shouldn't be explaining this to a thirteen-year-old,"

"You can tell me anything. It's not like I can do anything else around here,"

"What about go to your bedroom?" she asked harshly.

"That is not an option. Now tell Dr. Christopher Berry what seems to be the problem,"

Tina sighed. "We're still working things out, y'know? This is all new to both of us. It's kinda complicated," she patted his back, "Alright, I said it. Now can you please go to sleep?"

"Hey, that wasn't part of our deal," he lifted her hand off of his back and brushed it, as if removing some piece of dirt, then looked at Tina again. "But for you, Babe, I'm willing to make an exception." He winked at her and went up the stairs without another word.

Tina felt herself being hugged from behind.

"Oh thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" Rachel said gratefully and hugged her again. Tina turned around to face her.

"Don't mention it, Rach," she smiled. Rachel handed her something. She looked down and saw that it was a microphone.

"Go on. Sing a song for us," Rachel said.

"Thanks, Rach, but I really think I should go back to-"

"Tina, it is a very high honor to be given a microphone by Rachel Berry. You cannot miss out on it. It's the opportunity of a lifetime!"

"I'm flattered, really, but..." Rachel's look made her rethink her thoughts, "Fine. Thanks a lot,"

And she walked over to the middle of the room and sang her heart out, literally. Since her heart was out there with someone outside the house right now.

Artie stared at the calm waters, breathing deeply. He nearly kissed her. He was so close! And then she was slipped away from him as quick as that. He hoped he would be given another chance. He stared up at the night sky, hoping to find some shooting star he could wish on. All he found was an airplane. He hoped that counted and wished on it. He wished for another chance. He could really use a wish right now. A voice interrupted him from his thoughts and the strong smell of alcohol filled his nose.

"Hey! Wheelchair kid!" Puck called out to him, "Don't go away, I need to talk to someone," he sat on the ground beside Artie and hung his head down low. Artie can only stare at him. Of course it was so predictable of Puck to get drunk, but what wasn't very predictable was what things he did when he was drunk.

"I think I'm losing my edge," Puck sighed.

"How come?" Artie remained kind-hearted, nonetheless.

"With all this baby drama, Quinn hates me and no girl wants to fuck with me any more. I haven't shoved any nerd in a locker or in a dumpster in a long time just to prove to Quinn that I can be as good a dad as Finn. Uuuugh, Finn. He makes my blood coil. He always gets what he wants. And I always have to be the one to pick up his trash. He was football quarterback, he got to date the head cheerleader, and even in a dorky place like Glee club the ground he walks on gets worshipped! And he's probably going to be the captain of the basketball team next season. And me, I'm just the flunking stud who comes in second. I really am losing it."

For the first time ever, Artie felt sorry for Puck. Everything he said was true. He always came in second to Finn. That was a saddening fact.

"I'm sorry to hear that," was all he could say as Puck stood up.

"Wait, you can help me!"

"Huh? How?"

"You're a nerd!"

"Errm... thanks?"

"And I need to get my edge back! That's it! But what can I do with you?"

Artie started to panic and before he could think of anything else, Puck had grabbed his shoulders and shoved him into the Berry's ice-cold pool.

Artie immediately felt his whole body freeze. The cold water banged on his skin and he could do nothing with his arms to save himself. He tried to move, but moving just seemed to make himself even colder. He repulsed the cold, but it was everywhere now, ganging up on him. The heat remaining in his body seemed to have flown out ages ago. His eyesight blurred as his glasses sailed away and his body sunk underwater. The sickening color of chlorine was everything he could see now. He didn't even have the strength to close his eyes. His breathing stopped and he felt like he could go through cardiac arrest with all the panic he was feeling.

But then, at last, his body stayed limp as it sunk to the pool floor, his eyelids started to flutter close by themselves.

In the distance, Puck's cold laugh of victory grew even louder.

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**Gasp! What will happen now? Dun dun dun!**

**Please let me know what you think in a review! :D**


	17. Trepidation

**IMPORTANT A/U: School has resumed now (in my country) and I might update less. So I'll try to finish this story this week before I might go on hiatus. Our school standards went DAMN HIGHER so I have to work extra hard to keep my grades up if I don't want Dad to kick me out of the house (just kidding, but he really said he'd do that). Help me get to 70 reviews, people! Thanks! :D**

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**Chapter Sixteen**

Tina had just finished singing a song when she returned the mic to Rachel with a thankful smile, eager to return outside. When Rachel finally agreed to take the mic (unusual, isn't it?), Tina sighed in relief. On her way outside, she passed by a disgruntled Puck smiling gratefully. Tina politely greeted him with a wave, to which he gave a nod. He then went to Quinn and put his arm around her shoulders. Quinn looked irritated and shrugged it off. Tina rolled her eyes at the drunken Puck. Puck seemed to whisper something in Quinn's ear and her eyes went as wide as saucers as she quickly stepped away from him.

"YOU PUSHED ARTIE IN THE POOL?"

Her voice was loud, immediately silencing everyone. All was shocked. But none of their reactions compared to Tina's, whose chest was pierced by her shrill voice. And before she knew it, she was running outside and into the pool. Her eyes widened in horror as she saw a colored man underwater. However, as she was about to jump in the pool, someone grabbed her arms to stop her.

"Tina! Don't jump! It's too dangerous!" Yelled a frantic Finn, desperately trying to hold her back, but she was fighting him off.

"That's my best friend in there!" she screeched, trying to elbow him, "Now let go before you go down with me!" she kicked him in the shins and his hands recoiled and she jumped in immediately.

Rachel gasped. "Quick! Everyone! Girls, get the thick blankets from the closet! Boys, get ready to pick Artie from the pool and take him to the hospital immediately!" she commanded and everyone ran to their designated tasks, except for Puck, who was just staring at the pool with a confused expression.

"You mean, he's still in there?" Puck scratched his head. Quinn smacked him.

"Yes, you idiot! The bloody man can't walk!" she groaned, "How long has he been in there?"

Puck shrugged. "I dunno, ten minutes?"

The cold water slammed to Tina's profile vigorously, but she was still intent on saving Artie. The cold mattered less now. She knew how to swim well and she just had to swim faster to get out faster. Though the swimming was making her even colder, so she knew she had to do this quick. She felt her body slammed into another's and she grabbed on to him for dear life. She put her arms around his waist and tried to swim upward, dragging both of their weights, making it even harder. It was cold and Tina was exhausted. She was running out of oxygen with a limp Artie in her arms. She didn't know if she could hold on much longer, but she tried in desperation. When she got her head out of the water, Finn pulled her body out of the water while Matt and Mike took Artie's body in their arms. Quickly, the two of them were wrapped in the thick, warm blankets and the boys, with Tina, headed inside the car and onto the hospital.

"We'll call if anything happens!" Finn shouted to the girls (with Kurt and Puck) behind before slamming the key into the ignition and driving off.

Artie, Tina, and Mike sat at the backseat. A shivering Tina gazed helplessly at the weak form beside her. Artie's skin had gone blue and he was knocked unconscious, his head lying limp on Tina's shoulder. Mike gave Tina a sad look. She looked away, feeling tears sting in her eyes. She was very cold and felt like she had a hangover, but she still couldn't help worrying over Artie even more.

She glanced down at her hand and spotted the silver band on her finger. It tortured her, the thought of not seeing him again. It made her heart ache and her chest to tighten. They were so close! So close...

The thought was enough to almost drive her over the edge.

Luckily, before she burst into hysterics of insanity, Finn pulled over in front of the hospital's emergency entrance. Mike and Matt hopped off the car and carefully carried Artie's body in. Tina stayed in the car, still too weak to get up on her own. Finn took one look at her and drove off to the parking lot. When he parked the car, he got out and helped Tina out, wrapping his arms around her to put off the shivering in her form. A shock went through her as the gesture reminded her of the same thing Artie did the last time she was shivering.

Tina could vaguely register the walk to the entrance. She just stared at the open space blankly, only taking note of flashes of white, white, and more white. They walked over to where Mike and Matt were sitting and sat down next to them.

"What's up?" Finn asked.

Mike shrugged. "We explained the situation to the doctors, and then they shared confused looks,"

"What? They're confused with Artie's condition?"

"No, they said only lunatics would have their swimming pool at over sixty degrees,"

"Oh."

The sound of Tina's sobbing silenced them. Her brow was furrowed and she was shaking her head to the way her tears were falling, her shoulders bouncing with the way she inhales.

"Wh-what I meant was..." Mike immediately added, "They said Artie was gonna be fine!" He lied in a cheery tone that convinced no one.

Tina continued crying. "We were so close... so close..." she began chanting in desperately silenced whispers as Finn thoughtfully patted her back.

"He's going to be fine, Tina," Matt said softly, though his features were laced with concern.

"Look, I'm no good with advice," Finn said, bringing out his phone, "I'm calling a professional." He stood up and dialed a number he never thought he'd dial ever again.

"Finn?" an incredulous voice asked over the other line.

"Yeah, it's me," he answered sheepishly, "Look, Tina needs you right now. Can we just bring aside the feud for a while and help her get through?"

The voice on the other line sighed. "I'd like that."

"Thanks, Quinn," he said and brought the phone over to Tina, who glanced at it for a few moments before slowly grasping it with both of her hands.

"H-hello?" said her weak voice.

"Tina, you know we're here for you, right?" Quinn asked in a surprisingly soft tone.

"Of course I know that," she answered, nodding.

"And that whatever happens, you know that you'll still have support, right? Because that's what friends do, they support each other,"

"I-I'm your friend?"

Quinn laughed a little. "I guess I have no choice," she joked, "Let's have a little chat to pass the time, shall we?"

Tina sighed and Quinn continued talking. "Don't cry, Tina. Your tears won't magically make Artie get up and walk again. You can be sad, but crying is a total waste of time."

"'Kay," she said, wiping her tears away with her hands.

"How are you feeling?"

"Fine. It's so cold and everything that touches my skin hurts, I have a bad head ache, and I have a friend to worry about to top it all off, but otherwise, I'm fine."

"I guess plunging into cold water isn't really icing on a cake, is it?"

"Yes, but that would be a tremendous understatement." She let a small smile break on her face.

"But I'm glad you're okay." She sighed.

"Quinn, I don't get you. I thought you were some bitchy cheerleader, but you're actually a very nice and caring person. You know what to do when someone's sad. I actually can't believe you're really talking to me,"

Quinn laughed. "Easy now, I'm not a celebrity," she sighed again. "But being pregnant, kicked out of the house, and broken up with has thought me a lot. Even though I feel miserable right now, I know I still have one thing to be happy about. And that's Glee. Without it, I'd be a helpless soul wandering through the halls of McKinley High. You guys help me find my place. And I'd do anything to return the favor,"

"You're really sweet, Quinn. Thanks a lot. And I'll update you on what happens,"

"Sure do, Tina. Take care and remember not to cry."

"I won't," a bigger smile formed at her features as she clicked the "Home" button and handed the phone back to Finn, who was smiling at her encouragingly.

"Thanks, Finn. I really needed it," she nodded to him and went back to staring at the floor, reminiscing on happy memories with Artie and staying away from the bad ones, and the ones that border around them.

Tina was woken up by a voice calling her name. She then realized that she had fallen asleep with her head resting on her arms that were folded on her lap. The voice that woke her up belonged to a tall man wearing all white with a stethoscope around his neck.

"Miss Cohen-Chang? I'm Doctor Anderson." he said.

"I'm here," she said weakly, her voice still thick with sleep. She wondered how long she had dozed off since she wasn't shivering anymore. "What time is it?"

Matt checked his watch. "Fifteen-to-two,"

"Oh. Thanks," she said then looked up at the doctor. "How's Artie?"

"We're sorry to cause the trouble in your sleep, but we feel it consequential that we alert you as soon as we gather information you ought to know." He cleared his throat. "It appears that Mr. Abrams is in a moderate state of hypothermia,"

"The what?" Finn asked.

"Hypothermia is the condition of having an abnormally low body temperature, particularly one that is dangerously low." he explained. Finn nodded in understanding. "We are currently still in the process of heating him up, but this might be harder than we thought. Because the patient is paraplegic, his legs that usually lacked of exercise that suddenly became frozen will take longer to process. We're doing our best to prevent after drop."

"And what's that?" Tina asked.

"It's when the body's core decreases due to the shock of the rewarming process. It is extremely dire and may lead to cardiac arrest. But not to worry, he is in good hands," Doctor Anderson gave her a comforting smile. "So if you'll excuse me," he nodded and walked off.

Tina looked like she was going to cry again. "Hypothermia," she mumbled. Finn nodded.

"We already alerted his parents. His mom can't make it since she's in England, but his father canceled his business trip," he told her, "So sit down and you can continue to sleep if you want. Mike and Matt had gone home but I'm staying here 'til Mr. Abrams comes."

"Thanks, Finn. This means a whole lot to me, really,"

"Don't mention it," he returned her smile and sat beside her. Tina stared at him.

"I'm sorry for all that happened," she said sympathetically. Finn let out an agitated sigh.

"I always knew I wasn't all that happy with Quinn anyway. But I just feel so... betrayed. Like I'm so dumb and useless that even my own girlfriend and best friend can easily go behind my back." He tugged at his hair and sighed again, trying to calm himself down.

Tina shook her head. "You're not dumb and useless. It's their fault, not yours. You really should stop bordering in the dark times and be thankful with what good things you have right now. Sooner or later, it will all work out,"

Finn smiled. "I don't need all that drama psychology crap, I have Rachel."

"Oh, so you're using a rebound girl to fill up the black hole in your chest, huh?" Tina asked, shocked by Finn's answer.

Finn jumped up a little. "Rachel? No! I really like her!"

"But whether you like it or not, there's a reason why you dated Quinn."

Finn went silent now.

"You like Quinn—"

"I used to—"

"—Well you're lying."

Finn groaned. "You're right."

"And you're just using Rachel to plug up your holes?"

"No, I really do like her."

"But you need time. Time to think. You can't date Rachel knowing that you're still in love with someone else. No one deserves that."

"Then what am I going to do? Rachel thinks we're an item now,"

"Tell her to give you a few weeks to adjust. She'll understand. All this mind-blowing baby drama has really drained on you. You might not be able to give your best when you're in a committed relationship."

"Since when did you get so smart?" he asked suddenly.

"Let's just say that I've had almost as much drama as Quinn has," Tina yawned, "I'm going back to sleep. Wake me up when Mr. Abrams comes,"

"Sure. Oh, and Tina?"

"Yeah?"

"Thanks for the advice. I really needed it."

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**I was sort of disappointed with the way they rushed through Finn's relationship with Rachel in episode 14. He said it himself that he was still in love with Quinn, but he didn't give himself more time to think and immediately grabbed the closest girl he can find, making Rachel seem like a worthless rebound girl. So, needless to say, I really expected their break up. But I loved their relationship in the season finale and I'm glad that they got together at the right time, which was when they were sure that they love each other. But then again, they are only teenagers and my cousin did the same thing so...**

**Ima stop blabbing now and just smile while silently begging for a review. XD**


	18. Vacillation

**GOSH! I am deeply sorry for not updating sooner! School work just seems heavier than it used to be! I wish it was still summer time... Eurgh, I hate school. I actually can't believe it's a weekend right now with all the work we're doing (our school is very advanced. I'm only 13 but some of our subjects are for college students **eye roll**). And I still have homework to do but with all the reviews you keep sending, I knew I couldn't neglect you any longer. Here's the next chapter!**

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**Chapter Seventeen**

Tina's eyes fluttered open through the sudden bright light. She lifted her head up from her arms to see Mr. Harry Abrams looking at her, sitting next to her. Harry was a man in about his late forties with grayish-brown hair, tanned and wrinkled skin, and a rather dowdy fashion sense. But his bright blue eyes couldn't have more resembled a pair of familiar ones. Tina checked her watch and saw that it was eight in the morning. She yawned.

"Morning, Tina," greeted Harry politely, "Sorry we chose not to wake you. You just seemed so deep in your sleeping state that Finn and I figured you wouldn't mind," he smiled.

Tina rubbed her eyes and discovered some drool at the right corner of her lips. She frowned.

"S'kay, Mr. Abrams. I'ma go to the washroom," she said sleepily and stood up to find the comfort rooms.

As she was spraying her face with the tapwater from the faucet, she stared at herself in the mirror. Her hair looked like a total mess, her make-up smudged with some mascara streaking down her cheeks, and her clothes weren't a lot better. She sighed and grabbed some tissue paper from the side to wipe her face, silently praying that everything would seem right again.

She had lost her home, her parents, and all her belongings. She couldn't be able to lose Artie, too.

When she went back to the waiting room, Harry was holding a bowl of soup. Another bowl was on the seat next to him.

"I figured you wanted some breakfast. Dig in,"

Tina grabbed the bowl and spoon, sat down, and began to do so. "Thanks, Mr. Abrams,"

Harry gave her a curt nod.

After a few minutes of a rather awkward silence, Tina spoke up.

"Any news?"

Harry shook his head. "Not much. I talked with the doctors but they couldn't have told me anything you didn't already know."

"Are you worried?" she asked warily.

"Worried? No. I'm morose," he began to shake his head from side to side, as if willing for no tears to come.

"Mr. Abrams? I hope you don't mind me asking, but what is your relationship with Artie like?"

After a few seconds, he sighed. "My relationship with my son is, to say the least, solemn."

"That's good, right?"

"Perhaps, if I were the Chinese emperor. I work, Tina. A lot. And even though I know how much it hurts Artie not to have both parents with him all the time, I ignore it. We exchange pleasantries, not stories. I bring awkwardness and not happiness. I suppose I couldn't blame him if his feelings are ill-tempered against me," he hung his head low, sighing sadly once again.

"You're wrong," Tina said, dignified, "Artie may not know much about you, but I know you've been nothing but a good father to him,"

Harry raised his head and looked at her with the expression of a mixture of surprise and confusion.

"I should know," she continued, "Because I know what a bad father is like,"

At this, they both remained silent for a few seconds. Tina, realizing that Harry needed more convincing, spoke again.

"I always knew he was odd towards me, I just never realized how much he hates me."

"No parent could hate his own offspring,"

"My parents do. Do you think I'd be in this position right now, had the circumstances been different?"

"You would have been here for Artie,"

"Yet another wrong answer. Artie and I had a fight. And the only reason why we made up was because he felt sorry for..." she trailed off, realization crossing her features.

_He felt sorry for me... I was a fool to even think that he actually feels the same way. Gah, I'm so stupid!_

"Tina? Are you okay?" Harry asked and put a comforting hand on Tina's back. Tina tried to nod, but then realized that she was sobbing and shaking, the ache in her chest multiplying rapidly.

Harry wasn't sure what to do. Seldom had been the times that he was faced with a crying person. However, his doubting was ceased when he heard faint words from Tina.

"He doesn't like me. He just feels sorry for me..." she kept repeating. The melancholy in the way she said it was aggravating. And though Harry's confusion was evident, he mustered up all his intelect to fit in all the pieces.

"If you're talking about my son, then you're wrong," he told her and she looked at him. "Artie would never be kind to someone just because he pities that person. Because he knows first hand how much that hurts."

More silence followed. Tina had stopped crying and resolved to thinking deeply. And from the looks of it, Harry was doing the same thing.

Just then, a nurse approached them both. "You may see Mr. Abrams now," she said, "Room 305. He's awake, but very weak so don't stress him out too much. If all goes well, he can be discharged tomorrow,"

"Thank you," Harry said as he walked to Artie's room with Tina following behind him.

Artie was, like the nurse had said, awake, with his bed rinclined a few degrees high so he can see enough who's coming through the door. He was wearing his glasses with heavily-hooded eyes beneath them.

Harry briskwalked over to him and enveloped him in a giant hug, which Artie returned just as heartily. Tina sat down at one of the chairs against the wall.

"Dad?" Artie said, his voice still a little hoarse, "You're here?"

"I came as soon as I found out what happened. How are you feeling?" he asked, pulling away a little to eye Artie.

"Dizzy. Slightly confused. Hangover headache. But happy," Artie gave him a weak smile. "Where's Tina?"

"She's right here," Harry pointed to one of the chairs and at a lady in black with her head hung low and curtain of black hair covering her face.

Harry, realizing that the two needed some time alone, pointed his thumb to the door and said, "I'm gonna alert your mother," and he walked out.

"Tee? What are you doing over there? Come here," Artie spread his arms wide as he spoke. Tina shook her head.

"No," she said.

"Why not?" he pouted, "Tee, are you okay?"

Tina shrugged. "Are you?"

"Hey, I asked first."

"Did you feel sorry for me?" she said suddenly, snapping her head up, "Was that why you were pretending that you like me?"

"What the hell are you talking about?" Artie snapped, his temper rising.

"You heard me!" she snapped back, "Because I know for a fact that you still hate me! Don't think, even for a second, that I've forgotten what you looked like after our date!" she was now standing up, angry tears forming at her eyes.

"What? And you think I didn't regret that? It killed me, Tee! It killed me to leave you in that hallway when I knew I should've reacted differently!" he was shouting now, his face becoming slightly red.

"And that's why you felt sorry for me! Because I lost everything! And what would a boy like you ever want in a girl who has nothing?"

"Tina, I _love_ you. I love you so damn much that I don't care about what you have! And I wanted everything to be okay between us. And right now, all I want is for you to be in my arms right now but that won't happen because you keep feeling sorry for yourself!"

Tina sobbed and walked over to him and taking him in her arms, sobbing and crying on his shoulder. He wrapped his arms around her shaking body and tried to soothe her.

"Please don't let go," she told him in between sobs.

Artie pulled her to the bed next to him and tightened his hug. He kissed her forehead as her sobbing gradually stopped.

"And I'm sorry," she continued.

"Why're you sorry?"

"Because I love you too."

-O-

Bree Hollies angrily stomped away from her house and back to the park. She couldn't bear the screaming anymore. Her thoughts were so clouded and so was her vision. This was really not her day.

Walking back down to the park, she saw once again the couple she had seen not too long ago. This time, she stepped a little closer, only to find out that the girl had been crying.

"You don't have to choose, Tee," the boy in the wheelchair calmly told her.

"Yes I do. If I go, then I have to lose you! Fuck my life!" She said, making the boy in the wheelchair's face grow solemn.

Bree approached them now and sat next to them on the bench. She had been crying, too. And being with other people who were crying made her feel a little more comforted. The two eyed her and she realized her mistake. They had been having a deep and private conversation and she had barged into them like nothing was happening.

"Oh!" she said, "Sorry for my rudeness. I should probably go." She made to get up but the girl grabbed her hand to stop her.

"We can use some company," the Goth said, smiling through her tears.

"I can, too. My name's Bree, by the way,"

"I'm Tina," she said warmly, "And this is my boyfriend Artie." The boy waved at her. "I see you've also been crying. Talking about it can make it better,"

Bree sighed. "Today I found out that my best friend was lying to me, and that she had been dating this guy that I like. And I went home to find my parents fighting again,"

"I know how that feels," the couple said at the same time, making them all laugh. But the enjoyment was short-lived.

"How about you? What were you crying about?" Bree asked.

"You see, my parents disowned me a few weeks ago. And Artie here let me live with them..."

_Tina walked back home happily. Harry now had to go back to his business meeting after wishing Artie well. TIna and Artie are finally together and he was going to be discharged tomorrow. However, in the midst of her bliss was the constant nagging of her brain that she had to sleep soon. She didn't get a good sleep in the hospital. And Artie urged her to go back home and sleep on his bed._

_But when she was walking up the stone pathway, she saw a figure standing in front of the door. At first, it was just a silhouette that she couldn't recognize. But as she walked on, the figure began to emanate. And she immediately recognized who it was._

_"Mom?" she asked incredulously._

_Mrs. Cohen-Chang ran over to hug her, but Tina did not return it. She just stood there, arms hanging by her sides._

_"What the hell are you doing here?"_

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_**Review PLEASE! :D I've been having a very bad week so it would be nice if my day is brightened by a notch or two...**

**Oh! And BROWNIE POINTS FOR PEOPLE WHO CAN GUESS WHO BREE IS! :D**

**~Mary~**


	19. Liberation

**Due to the overwhelming amount of schoolwork, I regret to say that this story will be shorter than planned. This is the last chapter. An epilogue will be coming soon, though. Yes, I know that this is a very weak and suckish ending, but I honestly can't handle juggling fan fic life, school work, and co-curriculars anymore :( Don't stop expecting from me, though. I will still right when I can, usually when I've had such a suckish day. Thank you so much for supporting this story. I will forever owe you guys.**

**And also, no one got it right. When I told you to re-read the story, I meant it.**

**Bree was the girl from the prologue. **

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**Chapter Eighteen**

"I came to get you, sweetie," her mom cooed.

Tina could not believe what she was seeing. Time seemed to stop, but the scene in front of her kept moving. She felt an urge to crumble to the floor. She met her mother's dark eyes and said,

"What are you really doing here?"

"Tina, I'm very sorry for leaving you. Your father and I were lost without you. Please tell me you'll come back," she pleaded.

"Where's Dad?"

"He's still in England. I came over here to fetch you."

"What?" she shouted. "And what makes you think I'll come with you?"

"You'll have a good future there! The income is nice, the sights are wonderful, and there's this nice law school that will-"

She was cut off by Tina abruptly breaking away from her.

"I'm not going."

Mrs. Cohen-Chang's features began to grow more stern.

"Tina Cohen-Chang," she said through gritted teeth, "You will go with your father and I and will attend law school whether you like it or not!"

"And if I refuse?" she challenged.

"That is it!" her mother stomped her foot and pointed a perfectly-manicured index finger dangerously close to her face, "You will not bring disgrace to this family anymore!"

"Well if I'm such a disgrace, why'd you even come back?"

"Because you're my daughter,"

"That's not a reason!" she screamed, "It's because our relatives already think we're lunatics! Let me tell you something. We're only a family by name. You disowned me. That was the day that I considered myself not a daughter of yours!"

"Tina, we're doing this because we love you!"

"You don't love me!" angry tears now glistened in her eyes, rolling down her cheeks. "You never loved me! You're manipulative and strong-willed. People like you never love!"

A strong hand met her cheek with a loud smack. The slap made her recoil even farther away from her mother.

"How dare you say that to your own mother!"

"There are people who make me feel love, mom. And these people are right here. I don't need you anymore." Tina told her, her voice becoming softer now.

The words felt like a stab to Mrs. Cohen-Chang's heart. She gripped her purse so tight that her knuckles turned white.

"I'll be back tomorrow. Think about this, Tina," she told her.

"I won't be waiting," Tina said sharply as she watched her mother walk away.

The next day, when she woke up, she was determined not to see her mother. She immediately got dressed and went to the hospital. Once Artie was ready to go, she invited him to the park to walk freely.

Tina sat on a bench and Artie parked his chair next to it.

"Y'know, I would normally enjoy this kindly invitation, but you're not usually this nice," he joked.

Tina punched him playfully. "You're such a dweeb." Artie pouted. They laughed.

But it was only a matter of time before Tina abruptly stopped laughing and began to tell her story to him. She told him everything, that she had to choose between her family or her friends. The tears wouldn't stop flowing and Artie's heart broke at the sight of her. He did his best to comfort her, but could think of nothing to help her in the situation.

A girl approached them and shared their sorrow. Bree was actually a big help to them, rather than an aberration. She told them of her problems, and they told her of theirs. She was a stranger, but sometimes, a stranger's words are much more soothing than the words of someone closer to you. Because strangers never judge you no matter what you say.

"I'm really sorry. That does sound suckish," Bree said after Tina finished telling her of her story.

"You shouldn't be sorry. It wasn't your fault."

"But, really. And I thought _my_ life was miserable."

"You're still young, Bree," said Artie.

"Still," Bree said, "I wish I could help"

"What's done is done." Tina sighed. "Thanks a lot, guys. But I think I've made my decision," Artie looked alarmed, "Now if you'll excuse me, I have to talk to my mom now."

She stood up and waved goodbye to Bree. She waved back and started to walk away with a promise to keep in touch.

When Tina turned, Artie grabbed her hand to stop her. He looked up at her shyly.

"Tina? You know I trust your decision, but that doesn't really ease my nervousness."

Looking into his eyes, they seemed to connect with hers in a way that made it seem like they were trying to convey a message. _Please don't leave me_, they seem to say. Tina's own eyes glistened at the thought. Her love for this man was too much, as was his to hers. She certainly did not deserve it, though it was here right now. When she was about to turn around again to walk away, Artie grabbed her hand again.

"Tina?" he said in a desperate tone, "Are you-are you...?"

Tina bent down and took a deep breath. Their eyes met in an unbreakable gaze as the sun seemed to shine its rays right on them. Artie, who seemed confused at the moment, could only stare at her, mouth agape. Tina leaned closer and marveled in how their breathing mingled with each other's. And as if the timing was perfect, she pressed her lower lip in the middle of Artie's parted ones. His eyes opened wide for a bit in shock, but then got in the mood and decided to make the best of it. She was gripping the handles on his chair as she continued to press her lips deeper to his. His hands found her waist and he cocked his head a bit to the right to be able to get more air. Tina's mind jolted her as she pulled away and smiled a sad smile.

"I love you, Artie," was all she said before she walked away.

-O-

Tina was now sitting on the couch of her mother's hotel room. Her mom was sitting a few feet from her and they were settled in silence. That was, until Tina spoke up.

"I made my decision, mom."

"Let me speak, Tina,"

"No! You said all you want to say already! I just want a happy, normal life where-"

"I'm filing a divorce."

Tina stopped mid-sentence and turned towards her.

"What?"

"I'm breaking up with your father."

"But why?"

Mrs. Cohen-Chang stared at her daughter's face. "Because in life, it is not only you who has to make a choice. I, too, have to choose between my husband and my daughter. Please tell me I chose wisely," she pleaded, tears in her eyes.

Suddenly, everything clicked in Tina's head. Her mother never hated her. She wasn't lying when she told her she love her. She, too, was as confused as she was. And Tina finally felt a huge weight lift off her shoulders as she walked in to her mother's arms.

"I missed you, mom," she said, tears straining down her cheeks.

"I'm such a stupid mother!"

"But a mother nonetheless," Tina pulled away with a smile, "And kids are obliged to love their mothers,"

Her mother smiled.

"But are you sure about your divorce?" Tina asked carefully, "It's a very big thing, you know,"

Her mom seemed to stiffen a bit.

"Kill me if I say I don't want it," she chuckled.

"Thanks, mom."

And now, for the first time in a long time, Tina Cohen-Chang felt genuinely happy.


End file.
